GIFT  OF 
Calif.  Promotion  Committee 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


CALIFORNIA 
ADDRESSES 

By  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 


SAN  FRANCISCO: 
THE  CALIFORNIA  PROMOTION  COMMITTEE 

1903 


The  Tomoye  Press 
San  Francisco 


DEDICATION 

THAT  THOSE   WHO   LIVE  IN 
CALIFORNIA    MAY    APPRECIATE 
THEIR    STATE   THE    MORE— THAT 
THOSE    WHO    LIVE    ELSEWHERE 
MAY    KNOW    ITS    FUTURE  AND    ITS 
PRESENT  — THAT    ALL    MAY    BE 
INSPIRED    BY   THE    PATRIOT- 
ISM   OF  THESE    PAGES, 
THIS    VOLUME    IS 
PUBLISHED. 


IT    IS    A    SOURCE    OF    GREAT    GRATIFI- 
CATION  TO     THE    CALIFORNIA   PROMOTION 
COMMITTEE      TO     BE     ABLE     TO     PRESENT 
IN     PERMANENT    AND    AUTHENTIC     FORM 
"CALIFORNIA    ADDRESSES    BY    PRESIDENT 
ROOSEVELT."      THE    ADRESSES    HEREWITH 
PUBLISHED  ARE  GIVEN  IN  FULL,  AND  NO  AD- 
DRESS, IT  IS  BELIEVED,  HAS  BEEN  OMITTED. 
THE    COMMITTEE    DESIRES    TO   THANK    ALL 
THOSE    WHO    HAVE    CONTRIBUTED 
REPRESENTATIVE     ILLUS- 
TRATIONS   HEREWITH 
REPRODUCED. 


CONTENTS 

Remarks  at  Barstow,  California,  May  7, 1903             -           -           -          .           „  i 

Remarks  at  Victorville,  California,  May  7,  1903  -  3 

Address  at  Redlands,  California,  May  7,  1905            -           -           ...  4 

Remarks  to  the  School  Children,  San  Bernardino,  California,  May  7,  1903     .  n 
Address  at  San  Bernardino,  California,  May  7, 1903             -           -           .           -12 

Address  at  Riverside,  California,  May  7,  1903       .....  17 

Address  at  Claremont,  California  (Pomona  College),  May  8, 1903    -  19 

Address  at  Pasadena,  California,  May  8,  1903       .....  24 

Remarks  at  Los  Angeles,  California,  May  8,  1903      -  -  -  -  -29 

Remarks  at  Oxnard,  California,  May  9, 1903         -           -           -           -           .  31 

Address  at  Ventura,  California,  May  9,  1903  ------  31 

Address  at  Santa  Barbara,  California,  May  9,  1903          ....  55 

Remarks  to  the  Forest  Rangers  at  Santa  Barbara,  California,  May  9, 1903  43 

Remarks  at  Surf,  California,  May  9, 1903  -.-...  44 
Address  at  San  Luis  Obispo,  California,  May  9,  1903           -           -           -           -45 

Remarks  at  Paso  Robles,  California,  May  9, 1903            -                      -           -  48 

Remarks  at  Pajaro,  California,  May  ii,  1903              -           -           -           -  50 

Remarks  at  Watsonville,  California,  May  n,  1903          ....  5! 

Address  at  Santa  Cruz,  California,  May  i-i,  1903        -           -           -           -           -  53 

Remarks  at  the  Big  Tree  Grove,  Santa  Cruz,  California,  May  n,  1903           -  55 

Address  at  San  Jose,  California,  May  n,  1903             -           -           -           -           -  57 

Remarks  at  Campbell,  California,  May  n,  1903    -----  62 

Remarks  at  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University,  Palo  Alto,  California,  May  12, 1903  63 

Remarks  at  Burlingame,  California,  May  12,  1903            ....  74 

Address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Building  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, San  Francisco,  California,  May  12,  1903            -           -           -           -  75 

Address  at  Banquet  Tendered  by  the  Citizens  of  San  Francisco,  California,  at 

Palace  Hotel,  May  12,  1903         ---....  79 

Address  at  the  Hall  of  the  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West,  San  Francisco, 
California,  in  Response  to  Greetings  from  the  Association  of  Pioneers, 
Mexican  War  Veterans,  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West,  and  Native 

Daughters  of  the  Golden  West,  May  13,  1903  -  -  -  -  -  84 

Address  at  the  Ceremonies,  Incident  to  the  Breaking  of  Sod  for  the  Erection  of 
a  Monument  in  Memory  of  the  Late  President  McKinley,  at  San  Francisco, 

California,  May  13, 1903  --------  88 

Remarks  on  Being  Presented  with  a  Canteen  by  Various  Organizations  of  the 

Spanish  War  Veterans,  at  San  Francisco,  California,  May  13,  1903  -  -  92 

Address  at  Mechanics'  Pavilion,  San  Francisco,  California,  May  13,  1903      -  94 

Address  at  Dedication  of  Navy  Memorial  Monument,  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, May  14,  1903  ------...  Ioz 

Address  at  the  University  of  California,  Berkeley,  California,  May  14, 1903    -  105 

Address  at  Oakland,  California,  May  14,  1903            -           -           -           -           -  nj, 

Remarks  to  the  Service  Men  of  the  Spanish  War,  Who  Acted  as  His  Escort  at 

Oakland,  California,  May  14,  1903        -           -           -           -           -           -  114 

Remarks  to  the  Veterans  Who  Escorted  Him  to  the  Dock  at  Oakland,  Cali- 
fornia, May  14, 1901 115 


Address  at  the  Laying  of  the  Corner-stone  of  the  Y.  M.C.  A.  Auxiliary  Club- 
house, Vallejo,  California,  May  14,  1903         -           -           -           -           -  116 

Address  at  the  Banquet  Tendered   Him  by  the  Union  League  Club  of  San 

Francisco,  California,  May  14,  1905           ......  119 

Remarks  at  Raymond,  California,  May  15,  1903    -----  104 

Remarks  at  Berenda,  California,  May  18,  1903  -  -  -  -  -126 

Remarks  at  Merced,  California,  May  18,  1903       -           -           -          -  128 

Remarks  at  Modesto,  California,  May  18,  1903          .....  119 

Remarks  at  Truckee,  California,  May  19, 1903      -           -           -           -  130 

Remarks  at  Colfax.  California,  May  19,  1903    -          -          -           -          -  -134 

Remarks  at  Auburn,  California,  May  19, 1903       -           -           -           -  135 

Remarks  at  the  Park,  Sacramento,  California.  May  19, 1903          -           -           -  136 
Remarks  to  the  Sacramento  Society  of  California  Pioneers,  Sacramento,  Cali- 
fornia, May  19,  1903         ........  138 

Address  at  the  Capitol  Building,  Sacramento,  California,  May  19, 1903     -           -  139 

Remarks  at  Redding,  California,  May  20,  1903      .....  144 

Remarks  at  Dunsmuir,  California,  May  20,  1903        .....  146 

Remarks  at  Sisson,  California,  May  20,  1903        .....  150 

Remarks  at  Montague,  California,  May  20,  1903        .....  154 

Remarks  at  Hornbrook,  California,  May  20,  1903            -           -          -           -  153 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Driving  Through  Smiley  Heights  at  Redlands,  California,  May  7, 1903,  Facing  Page  i 
At  Redlands'  ---------  "4 

Replanting  Original  Navel  Orange  Tree,  Riverside,  May  7, 1903                        "  iz 

Addressing  the  People,  Pasadena,  May  8,  1903  -           -           -           -           -     "  ao 

Arrival  at  Reviewing  Stand,  Before  City  Hall,  Los  Angeles,  May  8,  1903          "  z8 

At  Santa  Barbara,  May  9,  1903      -           -           -           -           -           -           -     "  36 

Mission  Santa  Barbara,  "  Portal  of  the  Three  Skulls,"  May  9, 1903       -           *'  44 

Under  the  Big  Trees,  May  1 1,  1903           -           -           -           -           -           -     "  54 

Greeting  the  Crowds,  Corner  Third,  Kearny  and  Market  Streets,  San  Fran- 
cisco, May  12,  1903             ..._...  58 
Parade,  Market  Street,  San  Francisco,  May  12,  1903    -           -           -           -     "  80 

Addressing  the  People  from  High  School  Platform,  Oakland,  May  14,  1903      "  96 

Reviewing  U.  S.  Troops,  Van  Ness  Avenue,  San  Francisco,  May  12, 1903        "  84 
Shaking  Hands  with  Representative  of  the  Spanish  War  Veterans,  at  Con- 
clusion of  Presentation  of  Souvenir  Canteen.    Site,  McKinley  Monument, 
Golden  Gate  Park,  May  13, 1903  ------           "94 

Entering  Union  Square,  San  Francisco,  May  14, 1903,  Prior  to  Address  Dedi- 
cating Monument  Commemorating  Victory,  Manila  Bay            -                "  id 
Dedicating  Monument,  Union  Square,  May  14,  1903,  Erected  by  the  Citizens 
of  San  Francisco,  to  Commemorate  the  Victory  of  the  American  Navy 
at  Manila  Bay,  May  i,  1898          ------           "  106 

Boarding  the  Torpedo  Boat  Destroyer  "  Paul  Jones,"  Oakland   Harbor, 

en  route  to  U.  S.  Navy  Yard,  Mare  Island,  May  14,  1903                               '  in 

At  Dunsmuir,  May  20,  1903      -------           "  128 

Laying  Comer-stone  Marine  Hospital,  Vallejo,  May  14,  1903            -           -     "  131 

In  Yosemite        ---------           "  140 


PRESIDENT    ROOSEVELT'S    ITINERARY 
IN    CALIFORNIA 


Thursday \  May  Seventh 
Barstow,  8:20  to  8:30  a.  m. 
Redlands,  12:00  noon  to  3:00  p.  m. 
San  Bernardino,  3:40  to  5:40  P-  m« 
Riverside,  6:00  to  6:05  p.  m. 
Casa  Blanca,  6:15  p.  m. 

Friday ',  May  Eighth 
Riverside,  8:00  a.  m. 
Claremont,  9:00  to  9:30  a.  m. 
Pasadena,  10:30  a.  m.  to  12:30  p.  m. 
Los  Angeles,  i:oo  p.  m. 

Saturday,  May  Ninth 
Left  Los  Angeles,  6:00  a.  m. 
Ventura,  9:00  to  10:00  a.  m. 
Santa  Barbara,  11:00  a.  m.  to  2:00  p.  m. 
Paso  Robles  en  route. 
San  Luis  Obispo,  5'-?oto  6:30  p.  m. 

Sunday \  May  Tenth 
Del  Monte,  iz:oi  a.  m. 

Monday ',  May  Eleventh 
Left  Del  Monte,  8:00  a.  m. 
Pajaro,  8:50  to  9:00  a.  m. 
Santa  Cruz,  9:55  a.  m.  to  12:50  p.  m. 
San  Jose,  3:1 5  p.m. 


Tuesday ',  May  Twelfth 

Left  San  Jose,  8:30  a.  m. 

Palo  Alto,  9:00  a.  m.  to  12:00  noon. 

Burlingame,  12:25  to  1:25  p.  m. 

San  Francisco,  2:15  p.m.  In  San 
Francisco,  Oakland,  Berkeley,  Val- 
lejo  and  Mare  Island  Navy  Yard, 
until  midnight,  Thursday,  May 
Fourteenth. 

Friday,  May  Fifteenth  to 
Monday,  May  Eighteenth 

Yosemite  Valley. 

Tuesday,  May  Nineteenth 

Reno,  7:30  to  7:40  a.  m. 
Carson,  8:55  to  9:55  a.  m. 
Reno,  11:10  a.  m.  to  12:10  p.  m. 
Sacramento,  6:45  p.  m. 

Wednesday,  May  Twentieth 

Left  Sacramento,  12:30  a.  m. 
Redding,  8: 30  to  8:40  a.  m. 
Dunsmuir  en  route. 
Sisson,  1:15  to  1:20  p.  m. 
Montague  en  route. 


KS/TY 

J 
CALIFORN    r^=^  ADDRESSES 

BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
BARSTOW,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  7,  1903 
MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

This  is  the  first  time  I  have  ever  been  to  California,  and  I 
cannot  say  to  you  how  much  I  have  looked  forward  to  making 
the  trip.  I  can  tell  you  now  with  absolute  certainty  that  I  will 
have  enjoyed  it  to  the  full  when  I  get  through. 

I  have  felt  that  the  events  of  the  last  five  or  six  years  have  been 
steadily  hastening  the  day  when  the  Pacific  will  loom  in  the 
world's  commerce  as  the  Atlantic  now  looms,  and  I  have  wished 
greatly  to  see  these  marvelous  communities  growing  up  on  the 
Pacific  Slope.  There  are  plenty  of  things  that  to  you  seem  mat- 
ters of  course,  that  I  have  read  about  and  know  about  from 
reading,  and  yet  when  I  see  them  they  strike  me  as  very  wonder- 
ful— the  way  the  railroads  have  been  thrust  across  the  deserts, 
until  now  we  come  to  the  border  of  that  wonderful  flower  land, 
the  wonderful  land  of  your  State. 

One  thing  that  strikes  me  more  than  anything  else  as  I  go 
through  the  country — as  I  said  I  have  never  been  on  the  Pacific 
Slope;  the  Rocky  Mountain  States  and  the  States  of  the  great 
plains  I  know  quite  as  well  as  I  know  the  Eastern  seaboard;  I 
have  worked  with  the  men,  played  with  them,  fought  with  them; 
I  know  them  all  through — the  thing  that  strikes  me  most  as  I 
go  through  this  country  and  meet  the  men  and  women  of  the 
country,  is  the  essential  unity  of  all  Americans.  Down  at  bottom 
we  are  the  same  people  all  through.  (Applause.)  That  is  not 
merely  a  unity  of  section,  it  is  a  unity  of  class.  For  my  good 
fortune  I  have  been  thrown  into  intimate  relationship,  into 
intimate  personal  friendship,  with  many  men  of  many  different 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


occupations,  and  my  faith  is  firm  that  we  shall  come  unscathed 
out  of  all  our  difficulties  here  in  America,  because  I  think  that 
the  average  American  is  a  decent  fellow,  and  that  the  prime 
thing  in  getting  him  to  get  on  well  with  the  other  average  Amer- 
ican is  to  have  each  remember  that  the  other  is  a  decent  fellow, 
and  try  to  look  at  the  problems  a  little  from  the  other's  standpoint. 
(Applause.) 

I  am  speaking  here  to  the  men  who  have  done  their  part  in  the 
tremendous  development  of  this  country, — railroad  men,  the 
ranchers,  trie  people  who  have  built  up  this  country.  Something 
can  be  done  by  law  to  help  in  such  development,  something  can 
be  done  by  the  administration  of  the  law ;  but  in  the  last  analysis 
we  have  to  rely  upon  the  average  citizenship  of  the  country  to 
work  out  the  salvation  of  the  nation.  (Applause.)  Back  of  the 
law  stands  the  man;  just  exactly  as  in  battle  it  is  the  man  behind 
the  gun  that  counts  most,  even  more  than  the  gun.  (Applause.) 
So  it  is  the  man  and  woman,  it  is  the  average  type  of  manhood 
and  womanhood,  that  makes  the  State  great  in  the  end.  In  the 
individual  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  his  own  qualities ;  in  the 
community  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  the  qualities  of  the 
average  citizen.  The  law  can  do  something,  but  the  law  never 
yet  made  a  fool  wise  or  a  coward  brave  or  a  weakling  strong. 
The  law  can  endeavor  to  secure  a  fair  show  for  every  man  so  far 
as  it  is  in  the  wit  of  man  to  secure  such  a  fair  show,  but  it  must 
then  remain  for  the  man  himself  to  show  the  stuff  there  is  in 
him ;  and  if  the  stuff  is  not  in  him,  you  cannot  get  it  out  of  him. 
(Applause.) 

I  believe  in  the  future  of  this  country  because  I  believe  in  the 
men  and  women  whom  we  are  developing  in  the  country.  I  am 
more  glad  than  I  can  say  for  being  in  California.  I  thank  you  for 
coming  out  here  to  greet  me.  I  wish  you  well  with  all  my  heart 
for  the  future.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
VICTORVILLE,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  7,  1903 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  want  to  say  what  a  pleasure  it  is  to  see  you.  I  am  enjoying 
so  much  coming  into  California.  I  have  looked  forward  toward 
visiting  your  wonderful  and  beautiful  State  for  years,  and  I  am 
so  glad  of  having  the  chance  of  being  here.  I  welcome  you  all. 
I  am  glad  to  see  the  men,  the  women,  and  especially  the  children, 
for  I  believe  in  your  stock  and  I  am  glad  it  is  being  kept  up. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 


[3] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT 
REDLANDS,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  7,  1903 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  MR.  MAYOR,  MR.  GOVERNOR,  AND  You,  MY  FEL- 
LOW-AMERICANS, MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  CALIFORNIA: 

I  am  glad'  indeed  to  have  the  chance  to  visit  this  wonderful  and 
beautiful  State.  And  yet,  first,  let  me  tell  you,  my  fellow-citizens, 
I  did  not  need  to  come  here  to  be  one  of  you  and  devoted  to  your 
interests.  I  know  California.  I  know  what  her  sons  and  daugh- 
ters are  and  what  they  have  done,  for  if  I  did  not  I  would  augur 
myself  but  a  poor  American.  Rarely  have  I  enjoyed  a  day  more 
than  this.  I  waked  up  coming  through  the  Mojave  Desert,  and 
all  that  desert  needs  is  water,  and  I  believe  you  are  going  to  get 
it.  Then  we  came  down  into  this  wonderful  garden  spot,  and 
though  I  had  been  told  all  about  it,  told  about  the  fruits  and  the 
flowers,  told  of  the  wonderful  fertility  and  thought  I  knew  about 
it,  it  was  not  possible  in  advance  to  realize  all  the  fertility,  all 
the  beauty,  that  I  was  to  see.  Indeed  I  congratulate  myself  on 
having  had  the  chance  to  visit  you.  (Applause.) 

Coming  today  over  the  mountain  range,  coming  down  here, 
seeing  what  you  have  done,  makes  me  realize  more  and  more  how 
much  this  whole  country  should  lay  stress  on  what  can  be  done 
by  the  wise  use  of  water,  and,  therefore,  the  wise  use  of  the 
forests  on  the  mountains.  (Applause.)  When  I  come  to  Cali- 
fornia I  can  sit  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  and  learn  about  forestry 
and  water.  I  do  not  have  to  preach  it.  All  I  can  do  is  to  ask 
you  to  go  ahead  and  follow  your  own  best  practice.  The  people 
of  our  country  have  grown  to  realize  and  are  more  and  more  in 
practice  showing  that  they  realize  how  indispensable  it  is  to  pre- 
serve the  great  forests  on  the  mountains  and  to  use  aright  the 
water  supply  that  those  forests  conserve.  This  whole  country 

[4] 


n 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


here  in  Southern  California  shows  what  can  be  done  by  irriga- 
tion, what  can  be  done  by  settlers  foresighted  enough  to  use  the 
resources  in  such  way  as  to  perpetuate  and  better,  not  exhaust, 
them.  We  have  passed  the  time  when  we  could  afford  to  let 
any  man  skin  the  country  and  leave  it.  (Applause.)  Forestry, 
irrigation,  all  the  efforts  of  the  nation  and  the  State  governments, 
all  the  efforts  of  individuals  and  of  local  associations  are  to  be 
bent  to  the  object  of  building  up  the  interests  of  the  home-maker. 
The  man  we  want  to  favor  is  the  man  who  comes  to  live,  and 
whose  interest  it  is  that  his  children  and  his  children's  children 
shall  enjoy  to  an  even  greater  degree  what  he  has  enjoyed  him- 
self. He  is  the  man  whom  we  must  encourage  in  every  possible 
way;  and  it  is  because  he  is  awake  to  his  true  interests  that  the 
marvelous  progress  has  been  made,  largely  through  forestry, 
largely  through  irrigation,  here  in  California  and  elsewhere  in 
the  mighty  Western  land  which  forms  the  major  half  of  this 
republic.  (Applause.)  I  think  our  citizens  are  more  and  .more 
realizing  that  they  wish  to  perpetuate  the  things  that  are  of  use 
and  also  the  things  that  are  of  beauty.  You  in  California  are 
preserving  your  great  natural  scenery,  your  great  objects  of 
nature,  your  valleys,  your  giant  trees.  You  are  preserving  them 
because  you  realize  that  beauty  has  its  place  as  well  as  use, 
because  you  wish  to  make  of  this  State  even  more  than  it  now  is 
the  garden  spot  of  the  continent,  the  garden  spot  of  the  world. 
(Applause.)  Here  in  Southern  California  I  wish  to  congratulate 
you  upon  the  way  in  which  your  citizens  have  built  up  these  new 
cities,  of  which  I  speak  in  well  nigh  the  newest.  These  new  cities 
and  this  new  country  in  fashion  illustrate  the  efforts  of  the 
pioneer,  of  the  early  settler,  of  the  man  who  first  turns  to  account 
virgin  soil,  and  yet  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  escape  the 
roughness,  the  rawness,  that  too  often  necessarily  accompanies 
such  early  settlement.  Already  in  what  you  have  done,  you  people 
of  this  new  land,  you  have  been  fortunate  to  set  examples  which  it 
would  be  well  for  the  cities  and  the  country  districts  of  older 
lands  to  follow.  (Applause.)  Because,  fundamentally,  men  and 

[5] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


women  whom  I  am  addressing,  we  must  remember  that  much 
though  climate  and  soil  can  do,  it  is  man  himself  who  does  most. 
I  congratulate  you  upon  your  astounding  material  prosperity.  I 
congratulate  you  upon  your  fruit  farms,  your  orchards,  your 
ranches,  upon  your  cities,  upon  your  industrial  and  agricultural 
development,  but  above  all  I  congratulate  you  on  the  quality  of 
your  citizenship.  (Applause.)  I  am  glad  to  meet  you  and  to  be 
greeted  by  you.  I  know  the  rest  of  you  will  not  grudge  my 
saying  that  among  all  of  you  who  have  greeted  me,  I  prize  most 
the  presence  of  the  men  who  fought  in  the  great  war.  (Ap- 
plause.) Two  years  ago  you  came  here  to  welcome  your  comrade, 
my  chief  and  predecessor  in  office,  President  McKinley.  (Ap- 
plause.) He  had  fought  in  the  war  in  which  you  fought.  He  had 
done  his  part  in  the  work  that  you  did,  the  work  which,  if  left 
undone,  would  have  meant  that  today  we  had  neither  country  nor 
President.  (Applause.)  Now  we  of  the  younger  generation  are 
bound  in  honor  and  in  good  faith  to  carry  on  the  work  that  he 
and  you  did  in  war,  the  work  that  he  did  in  peace. 

The  lessons  you  taught  were  not  lessons  of  war  only,  they 
are  lessons  to  be  applied  in  peace  just  as  much.  In  the  war  it 
was  necessary  to  have  training;  it  was  necessary  to  have  arms, 
but  the  thing  that  was  fundamental  was  to  have  men.  (Ap- 
plause.) And  you  won  because  you  had  in  you  the  quality  which 
drove  you  forward  to  victory.  You  won  because  in  the  iron  times 
you  showed  that  you  could  recognize  each  man  for  his  naked 
worth  as  a  man.  (Applause.)  You  fought  for  liberty  under  the 
law,  through  the  law — not  license — not  any  spirit  that  rises  above 
the  law;  the  self-governing  liberty  of  self-governing,  self-restrain- 
ing freemen  who  know  that  anarchic  violence,  that  disorder  of 
any  kind,  is  the  hand-maiden  of  tyranny,  the  foe  of  freedom.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

I  greet  you  first,  you  on  whose  conduct  we  must  model  ours, 
and  next  I  greet  the  future.  I  am  very  glad,  my  fellow-citizens, 
that  you  do  so  well  with  fruits,  crops,  and  all  of  that,  but  I  am 
even  more  pleased  that  you  do  as  well  with  children.  (Ap- 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

plause.)  To  the  children  I  have  got  but  one  word  to  say,  and 
that  applies  just  as  well  to  the  grown-up  people,  too.  I  believe  in 
play  and  I  believe  in  work.  Play  hard  while  you  play,  and  when 
you  work  do  not  play  at  all.  (Applause.)  That  is  common  sense 
for  all  of  us. 

I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  to  the  men  of  the  National  Guard, 
some  of  whom  wear  medals  which  show  that  they  fought  in  the 
same  war  in  which  I  did.  (Applause.)  Ours  was  a  little  war, 
but  we  hope  that  we  showed  the  desire  at  least  not  to  fall  too  far 
short  of  the  standard  set  by  you  of  the  great  war.  (Applause.) 
I  must  thank  especially  the  gentleman  in  the  not  unfamiliar 
uniform  whom  I  see  before  me.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 

Now  just  one  word  in  closing.  Do  you  know  what  strikes  me 
most  as  I  meet  you,  the  people  of  Southern  California,  represent- 
ing a  community  which  has  drawn  its  numbers  from  all  the  civil- 
ized peoples  of  the  globe,  from  all  the  States  of  the  Union? 
What  strikes  me  most  is  that  good  Americans  are  good  Amer- 
icans from  one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other.  (Applause.)  I 
come  to  speak  to  you,  and  I  appeal  to  you  for  the  same  ideals 
and  in  the  name  of  the  same  great  principles  and  the  same  great 
men  who  illustrate  those  principles  as  I  should  speak  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard.  You,  the  men  of  the  West,  the  men  pre- 
eminently American,  the  men  and  women  who  illustrate  in  their 
lives  exactly  those  characteristics  which  we  are  proudest  to  con- 
sider as  typical  of  our  country,  I  greet  you  because  I  am  at 
home  with  you.  (Applause.)  Because  there  is  no  longer  any 
need  of  saying  that  the  worst  American,  the  genuine  traitor  to 
the  country,  is  the  man  who  would  inflame  either  section  against 
section,  or  class  against  class.  (Cries  of  "Good!"  Applause.) 

Good  laws  can  do  much.  Good  administration  of  the  laws  can 
do  much.  We  must  have  both.  (Applause.)  Law  and  the 
honest  enforcement  and  administration  of  the  law  can  do  much, 
but  most  of  all  must  be  done  by  the  man  himself.  Nothing  can 
take  the  place  of  the  exercise  of  the  man's  own  individual  quali- 
ties. Just  exactly  as  in  battle  it  is  the  man  behind  the  gun 

[7] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


who  counts  most,  and  just  exactly  as  it  is  true  that  the  change  in 
tactics  does  not  mean  any  change  in  the  fundamental  qualities 
necessary  to  make  the  soldier,  so  it  is  true  of  good  citizenship. 

VYou  and  I,  you  who  went  to  the  Philippines,  we  who  fought  in 
the  smaller  war,  we  had  a  small  caliber,  high-power  gun  if  we 
were  lucky.  You  did  not  have  it  at  first  in  the  Philippines,  I 
understand.  We  had  new  weapons,  we  had  new  tactics,  but  we 
did  well  exactly  in  proportion  as  we  had  the  spirit  that  made  you 
do  well  from  '61  to  '65.  (  Applause.  )\  Weapons  change  and 
tactics  change,  but  the  same  kind  of  men  who  did  well  in  Caesar's 
tenth  legion  would  have  done  well  following  Grant  or  Lee  in  the 
days  before  Appomattox.  No  weapon,  no  system  of  tactics,  could 
take  the  place  of  the  fighting  edge  in  the  man,  of  the  courage, 
resolution,  power  of  individual  initiative,  readiness  to  obey  and  to 
obey  on  the  instant,  power  to  act  by  one's  self  and  yet  to  act  in 
combination  with  one's  fellows.  So  now  it  is  in  citizenship. 
Something  can  be  done  by  law,  but  no  law  that  the  wit  of  man 
can  devise  can  make  out  of  a  man  who  has  not  got  the  spirit  of 
decency  and  clean  living  in  him  a  decent  man.((  Applause.)  No 
law  that  the  wit  of  man  can  devise  will  ever  make  the  weakling, 
the  man  who  does  not  know  how  to  handle  himself,  able  to  hold 
his  own  in  competition  with  his  fellows.  Law  can  and  must 
secure  justice,  justice  alike  to  the  rich  and  to  the  poor,  to  the 
man  in  the  country,  and  the  man  in  the  town,  to  prevent  any  one 
from  wronging  his  fellows,  and  to  safeguard  him  against  wrong 
in  return,  but  after  the  law  has  done  that  it  yet  remains  true, 
as  it  will  remain  true  in  the  future,  as  it  has  remained  true  since 
history  dawned,  that  the  prime  factor  in  working  out  any  man's 
success  must  be  the  sum  of  that  man's  own  individual  qualities. 

((Applause.)  We  need  strong  bodies.  More  than  that  we  need 
strong  minds,  and  finally  we  need  what  counts  for  more  than 
body,  for  more  than  mind — character — character,  into  which 
many  elements  enter,  but  three  above  all.  In  the  first  place, 
morality,  decency,  clean  living,  the  faculty  of  treating  fairly  those 
round  about,  the  qualities  that  make  a  man  a  decent  husband,  a 

[8] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


decent  father,  a  good  neighbor,  a  good  man  to  deal  with  or  to 
work  beside;  the  quality  that  makes  a  man  a  good  citizen  of  the 
State,  careful  to  wrong  no  one;  we  need  that  first  as  the  founda- 
tion, and  if  we  have  not  got  that  no  amount  of  strength  or 
courage  or  ability  can  take  its  place.  No  matter  how  able  a  man 
is,  how  good  a  soldier  naturally,  if  the  man  were  a  traitor  then 
the  abler  he  was  the  more  dangerous  he  was  to  the  regiment,  to 
the  army,  to  the  nation.  It  is  so  in  business,  in  politics,  in  every 
relation  of  life.  The  abler  a  man  is,  if  he  is  a  corrupt  politician, 
an  unscrupulous  business  man,  a  demagogic  agitator  who  seeks 
to  set  one  portion  of  his  fellow  men  against  the  other,  his  ability 
makes  him  but  by  so  much  more  a  curse  to  the  community  at  large. 
In  character  we  must  have  virtue,  morality,  decency,  square  deal- 
ing as  the  foundation;  and  it  is  not  enough.  It  is  only  the 
foundation.^  In  war  you  needed  to  have  the  man  decent,  patriotic, 
but  no  matter  how  patriotic  he  was  if  he  ran  away  he  was  no 
good.  So  it  is  in  citizenship ;  the  virtue  that  stays  at  home  in  its 
own  parlor  and  bemoans  the  wickedness  of  the  outside  world  is 
of  scant  use  to  the  community.  (Applause.)  We  are  a  vigorous 
masterful  people,  and  the  man  who  is  to  do  good  work  in  our 
country  must  not  only  be  a  good  man,  but  also  emphatically  a 
man.  We  must  have  the  qualities  of  courage,  of  hardihood,  of 
power  to  hold  one's  own  in  the  hurly-burly  of  actual  life.  We 
must  have  the  manhood  that  shows  on  fought  fields  and  that 
shows  in  the  work  of  the  business  world  and  in  the  struggles  of 
civic  life/  We  must  have  manliness,  courage,  strength,  resolution, 
joined  to  decency  and  morality,  or  we  shall  make  but  poor  work 
of  iO)  Finally  those  two  qualities  by  themselves  are  not  enough. 
In  addition  to  decency,  and  courage,  we  must  have  the  saving 
grace  of  common  sense.  ^  We  all  of  us  have  known  decent  and 
valiant  fools  who  have  meant  so  well  that  it  made  it  all  the  more 
pathetic  that  the  effect  of  their  actions  was  so  ill. 

Men  and  women  of  California,  I  believe  in  you,  I  believe  in 
your  future,  because  I  think  that  the  average  citizenship  of  this 
State  has  in  it  just  exactly  the  qualities  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

[9] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


I  believe  in  the  future  of  this  nation  because  I  think  that  the 
average  citizenship  of  the  nation  also  is  based  on  those  three 
qualities,  the  quality  of  decency,  the  quality  of  courage,  and  the 
saving  grace  of  common  sense.  I  greet  you  today.  I  am  glad 
to  be  here  in  your  beautiful  country.  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  men 
and  women  of  California.  I  wish  you  well  and  I  firmly  believe 
that  your  mighty  future  will  make  your  past,  great  though  your 
past  is,  seem  small  by  comparison.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[10] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS   TO    THE    SCHOOL    CHILDREN 

SAN    BERNARDINO, 

CALIFORNIA 

MAY  7,  1903 
CHILDREN  : 

I  wish  to  say  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you.  I  wish  to  congratulate 
the  men  and  women  of  this  city  upon  the  children.  You  seem  to 
be  all  right  in  quality  and  in  quantity.  (Applause.) 

I  wish  to  say  a  word  of  special  acknowledgment  to  the 
teachers.  There  is  no  body  of  men  and  women  in  the  country  to 
whom  more  is  owing  than  to  that  body  of  men  and  women  upon 
whose  efforts  so  much  of  the  cleanliness  and  efficiency  of  our  gov- 
ernment twenty  years  hence  depends ;  because  on  their  training 
largely  depends  the  kind  of  citizenship  of  the  next  generation. 
There  is  no  duty  as  important  as  the  duty  of  taking  care  that  the 
boys  and  girls  are  so  trained  as  to  make  the  highest  type  of  men 
and  women  in  the  future.  It  is  a  duty  that  cannot  be  shirked 
by  the  home.  The  fathers  and  mothers  must  remember  that  it  is 
the  duty  that  comes  before  everything  else  after  the  getting  of 
mere  subsistence.  The  first  duty  after  the  duty  of  self-support  is 
the  training  of  the  children  as  they  should  be  trained.  That 
comes  upon  the  fathers  and  mothers.  They  cannot  put  it  off 
entirely  upon  the  teachers ;  but  much  depends  upon  the  teachers 
also,  and  the  fact  that  they  have  done  and  are  doing  their  duty 
so  well  entitles  them  in  a  peculiar  degree  to  the  gratitude  of  all 
Americans  who  understand  the  prime  needs  of  the  republic.  I  am 
glad  to  see  you,  I  believe  in  you,  and  I  thank  you.  (Cheers  and 
applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT 
SAN    BERNARDINO,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  7,  1903 
MR.  CHAIRMAN,  MR.  GOVERNOR,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

It  gives  me  the  utmost  pleasure  to  be  presented  to  those  who 
are  among  the  best  on  earth  because  they  are  Americans.  (Ap- 
plause.) It  is  half  a  century  since  the  early  pioneers  founded  this 
place,  and  while  time  goes  fast  in  America  anywhere,  it  has  gone 
fastest  here  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  and  in  the  regions  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  directly  to  the  eastward.  If  you  live  in  the  presence 
of  miracles  you  gradually  get  accustomed  to  them.  (Applause.) 
So  it  is  difficult  for  any  of  us,  and  it  is  especially  difficult  for 
those  who  have  themselves  been  doing  the  things,  to  realize  the 
absolute  wonder  of  the  things  that  have  been  done.  California 
and  the  region  round  about  have  in  the  past  fifty  or  sixty  years 
traversed  the  distance  that  separates  the  founders  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Mesopotamia  and  Egypt  from  those  who  enjoy  the  civil- 
ization of  today.  They  have  gone  further  than  that.  They  have 
seen  this  country  change  from  a  wilderness  into  one  of  the  most 
highly  civilized  regions  of  the  world's  surface.  They  have  seen 
cities,  farms,  ranches,  railroads  grow  up  and  transform  the  very 
face  of  nature.  The  changes  have  been  so  stupendous  that  in  our 
eyes  thej  have  become  commonplace.  We  fail  to  realize  their 
immense,  their  tremendous  importance.  We  fail  entirely  to 
realize  what  they  mean.^  Only  the  older  among  you  can  remember 
the  pioneer  days,  the  early  pioneer  days,  and  yet  today  I  have 
spoken  to  man  after  man  yet  in  his  prime  who,  when  he  first 
came  to  this  country,  warred  against  wild  man  and  wild  nature 
in  the  way  in  which  that  warfare  was  waged  in  the  prehistoric 
days  of  the  Old  World.  We  have  spanned  in  the  single  life — in 
less  than  the  life  of  any  man  who  reaches  the  age  limit  prescribed 
by  the  psalmist— in  less  than  that  time  we  have  gone  over  the 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


whole  space  from  savagery  to  barbarism,  to  semi-civilization,  to 
the  civilization  that  stands  two  thousand  years  ahead  of  that  of 
Rome  and  Greece  in  the  days  of  their  prime.  (Applause.) 

The  old  pioneer  days  have  gone,  but  if  we  are  to  prove  our- 
selves worthy  sons  of  our  sires  we  cannot  afford  to  let  the  old 
pioneer  virtues  lapse.  There  is  just  the  same  need  now  that  there 
was  in  '49  for  the  qualities  that  marked  a  mighty  and  masterful 
people.  East  and  West  we  now  face  substantially  the  same  w 
problems.  No  people  can  advance  as  far  and  as  fast  as  we  have 
advanced,  no  people  can  make  such  progress  as  we  have  made  and 
expect  to  escape  the  penalties  that  go  with  such  speed  and  prog- 
ress. The  growth  and  complexity  of  our  civilization,  the  intensity 
of  the  movement  of  modern  life,  have  meant  that  with  the  benefits 
have  come  certain  disadvantages  and  certain  perils.  A  great 
industrial  civilization  cannot  be  built  up  without  a  certain  dis- 
location and  certain  disarrangement  of  the  old  conditions,  and 
therefore  the  springing  up  of  new  problems.  The  problems  are 
new,  but  the  qualities  needed  to  solve  them  are  as  old  as  history 
itself,  and  we  shall  solve  them  aright  only  on  condition  that  we 
bring  to  the  solution  the  same  qualities  of  head  and  heart  that 
have  been  brought  to  the  solution  of  similar  problems  by  every 
race  that  has  ever  conquered  for  itself  a  space  in  the  annals  of 
time.  It  is  not  possible  for  any  man  to  say  exactly  what  a  given 
community  of  our  people  is  to  do  with  a  given  problem  at  the 
moment,  unless  he  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  all  the  conditions 
attendant  thereon,  but  he  can  lay  down  certain  general  rules  of 
conduct  with  the  absolute  certainty  that  our  people  have  to  pro- 
ceed in  accordance  with  them,  if  they  are  to  do  aright  their  work 
in  the  State  and  the  nation. 

Wherever  I  have  been  in  the  West  I  see  men  who  wear  the 
button  which  shows  that  in  the  times  that  tried  men's  souls  they 
proved  their  truth  by  their  endeavor;  that  they  belonged  to  those 
who  in  the  years  from  '61  to  '65  dared  all  to  see  that  the  nation 
did  not  flinch  from  its  destiny;  and  great  though  the  praise  is 
that  is  due  to  them,  an  even  greater  praise  in  my  mind  belongs  to 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


the  women  of  their  generation  who  sent  them  out  to  battle,  who 
stayed  at  home  with  the  breadwinner  absent,  who  had  to  suffer 
not  only  fear  of  the  fate  that  might  befall  father,  husband,  son, 
lover  or  brother,  but  who  had  to  get  on  as  best  they  could  in  their 
own  household  without  the  help  of  the  arm  on  which  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  rely.  (Applause.)  You  men  and  women  of 
that  time  proved  yourselves  worthy  to  be  freemen  by  displaying 
the  old  heroic  qualities  that  had  marked  masterful  men  and 
womanly  women  from  the  days  when  the  world  began.  You 
won  because  you  showed  the  spirit  that  the  men  of  '76  showed 
under  Washington,  Wayne  and  Greene.  You  won  by  showing 
the  traits  of  character  that  must  be  shown  in  any  crisis  by  men 
who  are  to  meet  that  crisis — perfectly  ordinary  traits. 

You  do  not  win  in  a  big  fight  by  any  patent  device.  There  is 
not  any  way  by  which  you  can  turn  your  hand  and  conquer  in  a 
time  of  great  trial.  You  have  got  to  conquer  as  your  father  and 
grandfather  conquered  before  you.  You  have  got  to  conquer  as 
strong  men  have  conquered  in  every  struggle  of  history,  and  draw 
on  whatever  fund  of  courage,  of  resolution,  of  hardihood,  of  iron 
will  that  you  have  at  your  command,  and  you  can  conquer  only 
if  you  draw  on  just  those  qualities.  Another  thing  which  you 
will  remember  very  well,  from  '61  to  '65,  what  my  comrades  here, 
the  men  who  went  into  the  great  war  and  the  men  who  went  into 
the  Spanish  War  or  went  to  the  Philippines  will  remember  also, 
that  there  was  a  certain  proportion  of  men  who  joined  your 
ranks  who  for  one  reason  or  another  fell  by  the  wayside.  There 
were  different  reasons — some  for  whom  one  simply  felt  an  entirely 
respectful  pity,  who  lacked  the  stamina  to  be  able  to  stand  the 
hard  work,  and  it  was  mighty  hard  work.  In  the  lesser  war  there 
was  trouble  that  there  was  not  in  the  big  war,  for  there  was  not 
enough  to  go  around.  (Applause.)  Among  others  the  man 
would  come  around  who  wanted  to  be  a  hero  right  off,  but  did  not 
want  to  do  the  other  work  of  the  moment.  I  recollect  perfectly 
in  my  regiment,  a  young  fellow  joined,  and  on  the  second  day  he 
came  to  me  and  said :  "Colonel,  I  came  down  here  to  fight  for  my 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


country,  and  they  are  treating  me  like  a  serf,  and  making  me  dig 
kitchen  sinks."  His  Captain,  who  was  a  large  man  from  New 
Mexico,  explained  to  him  that  he  would  go  right  on  and  dig 
kitchen  sinks ;  that  that  was  what  his  business  was  at  the  moment, 
and  that  if  he  dug  them  well  we  would  see  to  the  hero  business 
later.  The  man  who  did  well  in  the  army  in  those  days  was,  as 
a  rule,  the  man  who  did  not  wait  to  do  well  until  something  big 
occurred,  but  who  did  his  duty  just  as  his  duty  came,  during  the 
long  marches,  during  the  weary  months  of  waiting  in  camp,  did 
his  duty  just  exactly  as  in  the  battle.  He  was  the  man  on  whom 
you  relied,  whom  you  trusted,  whom  you  wanted  to  have  with 
you  in  your  troop,  as  your  bunky,  whatever  it  was,  he  was  the 
man  you  wanted  around.  It  is  just  exactly  the  same  with  citizen- 
ship. It  was  just  exactly  the  same  in  the  pioneer  days.  The 
pioneers,  men  and  women,  faced  much  such  difficulty  as  the  men 
of  the  Grand  Army,  and  for  you,  the  men  of  that  generation,  and 
3'our  wives,  there  was  the  same  hardship,  the  same  endurance  of 
grinding  toil,  the  same  years  of  effort  that  too  often  seemed  fruit- 
less, the  same  iron  will,  and  the  same  ultimate  triumph,  and  if 
we  are  to  succeed  we  must  show  the  same  qualities  that  the  men 
of  the  Grand  Army  showed,  that  the  pioneers  showed,  that  all 
men  and  all  women  have  showed  who  were  fit  to  be  fathers  and 
mothers  in  a  vigorous  State.  I  would  plead  with  my  countrymen 
to  show  not  any  special  brilliancy,  or  special  genius,  but  the 
ordinary  humdrum  commonplace  qualities  which  in  the  aggregate 
spell  success  for  the  nation,  and  spell  success  for  the  individual. 
Remember  that  the  chance  to  do  the  great  heroic  work  may  or 
may  not  come.  If  it  does  not  come,  then  all  that  there  can  be 
to  our  credit  is  the  faithful  performance  of  every-day  duty.  That 
is  all  that  most  of  us  throughout  our  lives  have  the  chance  to  do, 
and  it  is  enough,  because  it  is  the  beginning  to  do,  because  it 
means  most  for  the  nation  when  done,  and  if  the  time  for  the 
showing  of  heroism  does  come  you  may  guarantee  that  those  who 
show  it  are  most  likely  to  be  the  people  who  have  done  their  duty 
in  average  times  as  the  occasion  for  doing  the  duty  arose. 

[IS] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


My  friends,  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you.  I  am  very  glad  to 
be  in  California.  Today  is  the  first  time  I  ever  was  in  your 
wonderful  and  beautiful  State.  I  do  not  know  if  this  is  a  fair 
sample,  but  if  it  is  California  is  certainly  to  be  congratulated  all 
through.  (Applause.)  In  saying  good-by  I  wish  to  express  the 
pleasure  it  has  given  me  to  see  you.  I  believe  in  the  State ;  I  be- 
lieve in  what  the  State  produces,  but  I  believe  most  of  all  in  the 
men  and  women  of  the  State.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  your  soil 
and  your  climate,  your  great  industrial  possibilities ;  it  is  a  better 
thing  to  have  the  type  of  citizenship  which  California  has  pro- 
duced. (Applause.)  I  congratulate  you;  I  congratulate  the  Amer- 
ican people,  of  whom  you  are  part.  I  wish  you  well  with  all  my 
heart,  and  I  believe  that  your  future  will  be  infinitely  greater  even 
than  the  mighty  present,  even  than  your  past  has  warranted  us  in 
believing.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[16] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS    AT 
RIVERSIDE,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  7,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  AND  You.,  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  have  enjoyed  to  the  full  getting  into  your  beautiful  State.  I 
had  read  about  what  I  should  expect  here  in  Southern  California, 
but  I  had  formed  no  idea  of  the  fertility  of  your  soil,  the  beauty 
of  your  scenery,  or  the  wonderful  manner  in  which  the  full 
advantage  of  that  soil  had  been  taken  by  man.  Here  I  am  in  the 
pioneer  community  of  irrigated  fruit  growing  in  California.  In 
many  other  parts  of  the  country  I  have  had  to  preach  irrigation. 
Here  you  practice  it  (applause),  and  all  I  have  to  say  here  is  that 
I  earnestly  wish  that  I  could  have  many  another  community 
learn  from  you  how  you  have  handled  your  business.  Not  only 
has  it  been  most  useful,  but  it  is  astonishing  to  see  how  with  the 
use  you  have  combined  beauty.  You  have  made  of  this  city 
and  its  surroundings  a  veritable  little  paradise. 

It  has  been  delightful  to  see  you.  Today  has  been  my  first  day 
in  California.  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  have  enjoyed  it  to  the 
full.  I  am  glad  to  be  welcomed  by  all  of  you,  but  most  of  all 
by  the  men  of  the  Grand  Army,  and  after  them  by  my  own  com- 
rades of  the  National  Guard,  and  I  have  been  particularly  pleased 
to  pass  between  the  rows  of  school  children.  I  like  your  stock 
and  I  am  glad  it  is  not  dying  out.  (Applause.) 

I  shall  not  try  this  evening  to  do  more  than  say  to  you  a  word 
of  thanks  for  your  greeting  to  me.  I  admire  your  country,  but 
I  admire  most  of  all  the  men  and  women  of  the  country.  It  is 
a  good  thing  to  grow  citrus  fruits,  but  it  is  even  a  better  thing 
to  have  the  right  kind  of  citizenship.  I  think  you  have  been  able 
to  combine  the  very  extraordinary  material  prosperity  with  that 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


form  of  the  higher  life  which  must  be  built  upon  material  pros- 
perity if  it  is  to  amount  to  what  it  should  in  the  long  run. 

I  am  glad  to  have  seen  you.  I  thank  you  for  coming  here  to 
greet  me.  I  wish  you  well  at  all  times  and  in  every  way,  and 
I  bid  you  good  luck  and  good  night.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[18] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS    AT 

CLAREMONT,    CALIFORNIA 

(POMONA    COLLEGE) 

MAY  8,  1903 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  MEN  AND  WOMEN: 

Even  in  a  distinctly  college  and  school  gathering  I  know  you 
will  not  grudge  my  saying  my  first  word  of  greeting  to  those 
whom  before  all  others  we  honor  for  what  they  did,  to  those 
because  of  whom  we  have  a  country  or  a  President  or  any  method 
of  moving  forward  along  the  path  of  greatness — the  men  of  the 
Grand  Army.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  I  always  envy  you  men 
of  the  Grand  Army  because  you  do  not  have  to  preach ;  you  prac- 
ticed. All  we  have  got  to  do  is  to  try  to  come  up  to  the 
standard  in  peace  which  you  set  alike  in  war  and  in  peace. 

It  is  a  very  good  combination  to  have  the  red  with  the  white 
and  blue.  You  can  see  over  there  that  Harvard,  which  is  my 
college,  has  the  red  and  then  comes  the  blue  and  white  of  yours. 
It  did  me  good  to  get  into  a  circle  of  the  higher  education,  and 
listening  to  you  I  thought  at  once  of  football.  My  friends  and 
fellow-citizens,  it  is  such  a  pleasure  to  be  in  this  college  town 
today.  It  is  so  wonderful  a  thing  to  look  at  the  country  through 
which  I  have  come,  to  realize  that  the  site  of  this  college  but  a 
few  years  ago  was  exactly  as  the  rest  of  the  plain  was,  to  realize 
that  all  of  the  cultivation  that  I  see,  all  of  the  agricultural  work 
that  has  been  done,  that  has  so  completely  changed  the  face  of  the 
country,  has  been  done  within  this  brief  space  of  time;  to  see 
the  two  things  together  and  realize  that  you  people  of  California 
are  laying  broad  and  deep  by  your  industry  and  intelligence  the 
foundation  of  material  prosperity,  and  that  upon  that  foundation 
of  material  prosperity  you  are  erecting  the  superstructure  of 
intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  well-being,  without  which  the 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


foundation  would  never  be  anything  but  a  base  with  no  building 
upon  it.  (Applause.)  Of  course,  we  have  to  have  material 
prosperity  as  underlying  our  life.  The  first  thing  that  the  indi- 
vidual man  has  to  do  is  to  pull  his  own  weight,  to  earn  his  own 
way,  not  to  be  a  drag  on  the  community.  And  the  individual 
who  wants  to  do  a  tremendous  amount  in  life,  but  who  will  not 
start  by  earning  his  own  way  in  life  is  not  apt  to  be  of  much  use 
in  the  world.  He  is  akin  to  those  admirable  creatures  who  from 
'6 1  to  '65  were  willing  to  begin  as  brigadier  generals.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  We  must  have  first  the  desire  to  do  well  in  the 
day  of  small  things,  the  day  through  which  all  of  us  must  pass, 
the  day  which  lasts  very  long  with  most  of  us.  We  must  have 
the  desire  and  the  power  to  do  well  industrially  as  a  community, 
as  individuals.  Before  we  can  do  anything  with  the  higher  life, 
before  we  can  have  the  higher  thinking,  there  must  be  enough  of 
material  comfort  to  allow  for  at  least  plain  living.  We  have  got 
to  have  that  first  before  we  can  do  the  high  thinking;  but  if  we 
are  to  count  in  the  long  run  we  must  have  built  upon  the  material 
prosperity  the  power  and  desire  to  give  to  our  lives  other  than  a 
merely  material  side.  It  would  be  a  poor  thing  for  this  State 
and  for  this  country  if,  no  matter  how  great  our  success  in  busi- 
ness, in  agriculture,  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  body,  we  had  not 
provided  for  our  children  and  those  that  come  after  us,  to  get 
what  is  good  alike  for  the  soul  and  the  mind.  The  college  and 
school,  any  institution  of  learning,  has  the  two  sides— I  will  say 
three  sides,  because  now  we  all  recognize  the  need  of  the  healthy 
body.  There  is  not  much  need  of  educating  the  body  if  one 
pursues  certain  occupations,  but  the  minute  that  you  come  to 
people  who  pursue  a  sedentary  life,  there  is  a  great  need  for 
educating  the  body.  All  of  us  recognize  that,  if  we  come  to  think 
of  it.  The  man  that  is  the  ideal  good  citizen  is  the  man  who  in 
the  event  of  trial,  in  the  event  of  a  call  from  his  country,  can 
respond  to  that  call  as  you  responded  in  the  great  war.  Then 
when  that  call  is  made  you  need  not  only  fiery  enthusiasm,  but 
you  need  the  body  containing  that  fiery  enthusiasm  to  be  suf- 


TTBR 

ff  O^THf     ' 

(  UNIVERSITY   ) 

X 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

ficiently  hardy  to  bear  it  up,  to  bear  it  up  on  the  march,  to  bear 
it  up  in  the  camp,  to  bear  it  into  battle;  you  need  a  sound  body, 
then  you  need  a  sound  mind  and  a  trained  mind.  Of  course, 
there  has  got  to  be  a  capacity  for  intellectual  development  there 
to  train,  but  it  is  a  very  great  error,  and  an  error  into  which  in 
the  past  we  as  a  nation  have  been  prone  to  fall,  to  believe  that 
you  can  trust  to  that  intellectual  capacity  without  training.  You 
cannot.  There  are  wholly  exceptional  people  who  will  make  the 
greatest  success  with  insufficient  training.  We  cannot  judge  by 
those  wholly  exceptional  people.  Every  college  should  aim  from 
its  intellectual  side,  from  the  intellectual  standpoint,  to  add  to 
the  sum  of  productive  scholarship  of  the  nation ;  and  I  trust  that 
this  college,  that  all  colleges  like  this,  in  these  great  new  States 
will  add  to  the  purely  American  type  of  American  scholarship. 
By  purely  American  I  do  not  mean  that  you  should  self-con- 
sciously strive  in  your  scholarship  to  have  little  points  of  unim- 
portant difference.  I  mean  that  you  should  turn  your  attention 
to  the  thing  that  you  find  naturally  at  hand,  or  to  which  your 
minds  naturally  turn,  and  try  in  dealing  with  that  to  deal  in  so 
fresh  a  way  that  the  net  outcome  shall  be  an  addition  to  the 
world's  stock  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  Every  college  should 
strive  to  bring  to  development  among  the  students  the  capacity 
to  do  good  original  work.  That  is  important.  Even  more 
important,  however,  than  anything  you  can  do  for  your  intellect, 
or  anything  that  can  be  done  for  the  intellect  in  the  schools,  the 
children  whom  I  see  over  there,  is  what  can  be  done  for  that 
which  counts  for  more  than  body,  for  more  than  mind,  for 
character;  that  is  what  ultimately  counts  (applause),  in  shaping 
the  fate  of  the  nation,  the  destiny  of  the  nation  in  great  crises 
and  in  ordinary  times.  Brilliancy,  genius,  cleverness  of  all  kinds, 
do  not  count  for  anything  like  as  much  as  the  sturdy  traits  that 
we  group  together  under  the  name  of  character.  (Applause.) 
In  the  Civil  War  it  was  a  good  thing  to  be  clever,  to  be  capable, 
but  it  was  an  infinitely  better  thing  to  have  in  you  the  spirit  that 
declined  to  accept  defeat,  and  that  drove  you  forward  to  the  ulti- 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 

mate  triumph.  That  was  what  counted.  So  in  life  what  counts 
as  the  chief  factor  in  the  success  of  a  man  or  a  woman  is  charac- 
ter, and  character  is  partly  inborn  and  partly  developed;  partly 
developed  by  the  man's  individual  will,  the  woman's  individual 
will,  partly  developed  by  the  wise  training  of  those  above  the 
young  man  or  young  woman,  the  boy  or  the  girl,  partly  devel- 
oped by  the  myriad  associations  of  life,  in  just  such  an  institution 
of  learning  as  this.  Character  has  two  sides.  It  is  composed 
of  two  sets  pf  traits;  in  the  first  place  the  set  of  traits  which  we 
group  together  under  such  names  as  clean  living,  decency, 
morality,  virtue,  the  desire  and  power  to  deal  fairly  each  by  his 
neighbor,  each  by  his  friends,  each  toward  the  State ;  that  we  have 
to  have  as  fundamental.  The  abler,  the  more  powerful  any  man 
is  the  worse  he  is  if  he  has  not  got  the  root  of  righteousness  in 
him.  (Applause.)  In  any  regiment  the  man  who  has  no  loyalty 
to  his  fellows,  no  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  flag,  no  desire  to  see 
the  regiment  stand  high,  to  do  his  duty  and  see  his  fellows  rise 
with  him,  that  man,  no  matter  how  brave,  or  how  able,  is  a 
curse  to  the  regiment,  and  the  sooner  you  can  get  him  out  the 
better.  So  in  civil  life,  the  abler  a  man  is  in  business,  in  politics, 
in  social  leadership,  the  worse  he  is  if  he  is  a  scoundrel,  whether 
his  scoundrelism  takes  the  form  of  corruption  in  business,  cor- 
ruption in  politics,  or  that  most  sinister  of  all  forms,  the  effort 
to  rise  by  inciting  class  hatred,  by  inciting  lawlessness,  by  exciting 
the  spirit  of  evil,  the  spirit  of  jealousy  and  envy  as  between  man 
and  man;  and  that  spirit  is  equally  base,  whether  it  take  the 
form  of  arrogance  on  the  part  of  the  well-to-do  toward  those  less 
well-to-do,  or  of  mean  and  base  envy  and  jealousy  on  the  part  of 
those  not  well-to-do  for  those  who  are  better  off.  (Applause.) 
It  is  equally  evil  against  the  principles  of  our  government  in 
one  case  as  in  the  other.  And  having  those  traits,  we  must  have 
others  in  addition.  The  virtue  that  sits  at  home  is  of  scant  use 
in  the  world ;  the  virtue  that  is  very  good  in  its  own  parlor  and 
bemoans  the  wickedness  of  those  outside  does  not  do  much  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind.  In  the  war  you  had  to  have  patriotism, 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

but  there  was  but  little  to  be  made  of  the  man  who  was  patriotic 
but  who  had  a  tendency  to  run  away.  In  addition  to  decency, 
morality,  virtue,  clean  living,  you  must  have  hardihood,  resolu- 
tion, courage,  the  power  to  do,  the  power  to  dare,  the  power  to 
endure,  and  when  you  have  that  combination,  then  you  get  the 
proper  type  of  American  citizenship.  I  hail  the  chance  of  being 
met  by  such  a  gathering  as  this,  because  it  is  of  good  augury  for 
the  republic  to  see  in  this  mighty  Western  State,  this  typically 
American  State,  the  things  of  the  body,  and  the  things  of  the 
soul  equally  cared  for.  I  greet  you  and  I  thank  you.  (Cheers 
and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT 
PASADENA,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  8,  1903 

MR.  CONGRESSMAN,  MR.  MAYOR,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW- CITIZENS, 
MEN,  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  OF  PASADENA: 

I  am  not  going  to  talk  to  you  very  long  this  morning,  because 
I  am  too  much  interested  in  your  community.  I  want  to  see  all 
I  can  see.  We  speak  often  of  the  old  pioneer  days,  and  the 
wonderful  feats  of  our  countrymen  in  those  days,  but  we  are 
living  right  in  the  middle  of  them  now,  only  we  are  living  under 
pleasanter  auspices.  To  think  of  the  well-nigh  incredible  fact 
that  all  of  this  that  I  have  been  looking  at — the  city,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country — that  it  has  all  occurred  within  twenty  years ; 
that  twenty  years  has  separated  the  sheep  pasture  from  this 
city,  from  the  fertile  irrigated  region  round  about.  It  is  hard 
to  believe  it.  You  have  done  this  great  work  of  building  up  a 
new  community;  you  have  built  up  the  new  community,  and  yet 
have  preserved  all  the  charm,  all  the  refinement,  of  the  oldest 
civilizations.  It  is  all  so  striking  that  it  is  difficult  for  me  to 
know  what  to  comment  upon.  Yesterday  and  today  I  have  been 
traveling  through  what  is  literally  a  garden  of  the  Lord,  in  sight 
of  the  majestic  and  wonderful  scenery  of  the  mountains,  going 
over  this  plain  tilled  by  the  hand  of  man  as  you  have  tilled  it, 
that  has  blossomed  like  the  rose — blossomed  as  I  never  dreamed 
in  my  life  that  the  rose  could  blossom  until  I  came  here.  Every- 
where I  have  gone  I  have  been  greeted  by  the  men  who  wear  the 
button  that  shows  that  they  belong  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  men  who  fought  in  that  army  in  many  different  regi- 
ments, from  many  different  States,  who  have  come  here  from 
many  different  States;  but  who  as  they  fought,  all,  no  matter 
from  what  State  they  came — as  they  fought  all  for  the  federal 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


flag  and  the  federal  Union  have  come  here  from  their  original 
home  to  become  Californians  while  remaining  Americans.  For, 
oh,  my  friends,  the  thing  that  has  impressed  me  most  here  in  this 
State  of  the  West,  this  wonderful  commonwealth  that  has  grown 
up  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  the  thing  that  has  impressed  me  most  is 
that  I  am  speaking  to  Americans  just  as  I  speak  in  any  other 
section  of  the  country !  We  are  all  pretty  much  alike,  and  I 
believe  so  unqualifiedly  in  the  future  of  the  country  because  I 
believe  in  the  average  American,  because  I  believe  in  the  average 
standard  of  our  citizenship;  and  I  believe  that  serious  though 
the  problems  are  that  now  confront  us,  they  will  all  be  solved 
exactly  as  you  solved  the  far  more  serious  problems  of  the  early 
'6o's,  if  we  approach  them  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  you 
approached  yours.  You  went  to  war  for  liberty,  union,  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  and  now  in  peace  it  rests  for  us  to  stand 
for  the  indivisible  nation,  for  liberty  under  and  through  the  law, 
and  for  brotherhood  in  its  widest,  deepest  and  truest  sense;  the 
brotherhood  which  recognizes  in  each  man  a  brother  to  be  helped, 
which  will  not  suffer  wrong  and  will  not  inflict  it.  I  wish  to 
see  the  average  American  take  in  reference  to  his  fellows  the 
attitude  that  I  wish  to  see  America  take  among  the  nations  of 
the  world;  the  attitude  of  one  who  scorns  equally  to  flinch  from 
injustice  by  the  strong  and  to  do  injustice  to  the  weak.  (Cheers 
and  applause.)  You  fought  for  liberty  under  the  law,  not  liberty 
in  spite  of  the  law.  Any  man  who  claims  that  there  can  be 
liberty  in  spite  of  and  against  the  law  is  claiming  that  anarchy 
is  liberty.  (Applause.)  From  the  beginning  of  time  anarchy 
in  all  its  forms  has  been  the  hand-maiden,  the  harbinger,  of 
despotism  and  tyranny.  We  must  remember  ever  that  the  surest 
way  to  overturn  republican  institutions,  the  surest  way  to  do  away 
with  the  essential  democratic  liberty  that  we  enjoy,  is  to  permit 
any  one  under  any  excuse  to  put  the  gratification  of  his  passions 
over  the  law.  The  law,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  must  be 
obeyed  by  every  man,  rich  or  poor,  alike.  (Applause.)  Ours  is 
a  government  of  equal  rights  under  the  law,  guaranteeing  those 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


rights  to  each  man  so  long  as  he  in  his  turn  refrains  from  wrong- 
ing his  brother.  We  cannot  exist  as  a  republic  unless  we  are  true 
to  the  fundamental  principles  of  those  who  founded  the  republic 
in  '76,  and  those  who  perpetuated  it  in  the  years  from  '61  to  '65. 
And  if  we  remain  true  to  the  philosophy  preached  and  practiced 
by  Washington  and  Lincoln  we  cannot  go  far  wrong.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

New  problems  come  up  all  the  time.  The  tremendous  growth 
of  our  complex  industrialism  means  that  we  have  to  face  new 
conditions,  that  we  enjoy  new  benefits,  and  must  overcome  new 
difficulties;  but  the  spirit  in  which  we  must  face  them  must  be 
the  old  spirit  which  has  won  victory  in  military  strife  and  under 
civic  conditions  since  the  dim  days  when  history  dawned.  We 
can  win  only  if  we  show  the  principles  that  made  you  win.  You 
did  not  win  by  any  patent  device.  You  did  not  win  in  that 
way.  There  is  not  any  patent  device  for  getting  the  millennium, 
and  any  man  who  says  that  by  following  him,  that  by  invoking 
some  specific  remedy,  all  injustice,  and  all  evil,  and  all  suffering 
will  be  done  away  with  misleads  himself  and  you.  Something 
can  be  done  by  law.  Much  can  be  done  by  honest  and  fearless 
administration  of  the  law;  but  in  the  long  run  the  prime  factor 
in  deciding  each  man's  success  must  be  the  sum  of  the  man's 
individual  qualities.  We  must  work  in  combination.  We  must 
work  together;  but  we  must  remember  that  no  man  can  do  any- 
thing with  others  unless  he  can  do  something  for  himself. 

In  the  army  you  will  remember  that  there  was  an  occasional 
man  whom  nothing  under  heaven  could  have  turned  into  a  good 
soldier.  (Laughter.)  You  could  train  him,  arm  him,  drill  him, 
but  on  the  important  day  he  fell  sick.  (Laughter.)  If  he  stayed 
in  action  you  had  to  watch  him  so  narrowly  for  fear  he  got  out 
that  he  simply  distracted  your  attention  from  your  legitimate 
business.  You  have  got  just  the  same  type  of  man  in  civic  life. 
And  still  each  one  of  us  must  remember  that  any  one  may  and 
will  at  times  slip.  There  is  not  a  man  of  us  here  who  does  not 
at  times  need  a  helping  hand  to  be  stretched  out  to  him,  and  then 

[26] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


shame  upon  him  who  will  not  stretch  out  the  helping  hand  to  his 
brother.  While  we  must  remember  that — remember  that  every 
man  at  times  stumbles  and  must  be  helped  up,  if  he  lies  down 
you  cannot  carry  him.  He  has  got  to  be  willing  to  walk.  You 
can  help  him  in  but  one  way,  the  only  way  in  which  any  man 
can  be  helped  permanently — help  him  to  help  himself.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

We  can  solve  aright  all  the  difficult  problems  that  come  up 
because  of  and  through  our  modern  civilization,  if  we  approach 
them  in  accordance  with  the  immutable  laws  of  righteousness 
and  of  common  sense;  if  we  treat  each  man  on  his  worth  as  a 
man;  if  we  demand  from  him,  be  he  rich  or  poor,  obedience  to 
the  law  and  just  dealing  toward  his  fellows;  if  we  demand  it 
and  are  scrupulously  careful  in  return  to  do  the  right  we  demand  ; 
if  we  remember  our  duties  just  as  keenly  as  we  remember  our 
rights. 

Glad  though  I  am  to  see  all  of  you,  to  see  the  grown-ups,  I 
think  I  am  even  gladder  to  see  the  children.  (Applause.)  I  was 
greeted  by  the  high  school  in  a  way  that  made  me  feel  perfectly 
certain  that  the  nine  and  eleven  had  their  parts  in  the  curriculum. 
It  is,  of  course,  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  important  though  it 
is  to  develop  factories,  railroads,  farms,  commerce,  the  thing 
that  counts  is  the  development  of  citizenship ;  that  the  one  thing 
that  decides  ultimately  what  the  nation  is,  is  the  character  of 
the  average  man  or  woman  in  the  nation.  That  is  what  decides 
the  future  of  the  commonwealth;  and  I  am  very  glad  to  see  the 
kind  of  children  and  to  see  how  many  there  are.  (Applause.) 
I  like  your  stock  and  I  am  glad  it  is  being  kept  up.  (Applause.) 

I  wish  to  say  a  special  word  of  appreciation  to  those  engaged 
in  doing  the  most  vitally  necessary  work  in  the  community — 
the  school  teachers,  all  engaged  in  education.  They  are  the 
people  who  are  deciding,  next  only  to  the  fathers  and  mothers 
themselves,  what  the  future  destiny  of  this  country  shall  be. 
If  we  have  the  most  marvelous  material  development  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  and  yet  if  we  train  up  the  next  generation 

[•7] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


wrong,  that  material  development  will  be  as  dust  and  ashes  in  the 
balance;  it  will  count  for  nothing  and  less  than  nothing.  It 
is  indispensable  as  a  foundation,  and  it  is  worthless  unless  there 
is  a  superstructure  upon  it.  I  believe  in  you.  I  believe  in  your 
future.  I  believe  in  our  future.  I  believe  in  our  people,  in  the 
American  people  from  one  side  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  be- 
cause I  believe  that  the  fathers  and  mothers,  the  teachers  of  this 
generation,  are  bringing  up  the  children,  the  boys  and  the  girls, 
to  be  in  the  future  such  men  and  women  as  those  who  in  the  iron 
days  of  the  Civil  War  left  us  a  heritage  of  glory  and  honor  for- 
ever. (Cheers  and  applause.) 


O 


n 


n 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
LOS    ANGELES,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  8,  1903 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  greet  you  and  thank  you  for  the  enjoyment  you  have  given 
me  today.  I  cannot  say  how  I  have  appreciated  being  here  in 
your  beautiful  State  and  your  beautiful  city.  I  do  not  remember 
ever  seeing  quite  the  parallel  to  the  procession  I  have  just 
witnessed.  (Applause.)  I  find,  men  and  women  of  California, 
that  California  believes  implicitly  in  two  of  my  own  favorite 
beliefs — the  navy  and  irrigation.  (Applause.)  The  navy,  because 
this  country  is  one  of  the  great  leading  nations  of  mankind  and 
is  bound  to  become  ever  greater  as  the  years  roll  by,  and  there- 
fore it  must  have  a  navy  corresponding  to  its  position.  (Ap- 
plause.) Moreover,  we  as  a  nation  front  two  great  oceans,  and 
we  must  have  a  navy  capable  of  asserting  our  position  alike  on 
the  Pacific  and  the  Atlantic.  (Applause.)  This  year  we  have 
begun  the  preparations  for  the  completion  of  the  Isthmian  Canal. 
(Applause.)  That  is  important  commercially;  it  will  become 
even  more  important  should  we  ever  become  involved  in  war, 
because  holding  that  canal  it  would  be  open  to  our  own  warships 
and  closed  to  those  of  any  hostile  power.  (Applause.)  I  want 
a  navy,  I  want  to  see  the  American  republic  with  a  fighting  navy, 
because  I  never  wish  to  see  us  take  a  position  that  we  cannot 
maintain.  I  do  not  believe  in  a  bluff.  I  feel  about  a  nation  as  we 
all  feel  about  a  man;  let  him  not  say  anything  that  he  cannot 
make  good,  and  having  said  it  let  him  make  it  good.  (Applause.) 
I  believe  in  doing  all  we  can  to  avoid  a  quarrel,  to  avoid  trouble; 
I  believe  in  speaking  courteously  of  all  the  other  peoples  of  man- 
kind, of  scrupulously  refraining  from  wronging  them  and  of 
seeing  that  in  return  they  do  not  wrong  us.  (Applause.)  I 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


believe  in  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  I  believe  in  it  not  as  an 
empty  formula  of  words,  but  as  something  we  are  ready  to  make 
good  by  deeds,  and  therefore  I  believe  in  having  an  adequate 
navy  with  which  to  make  that  doctrine  good.  More  than  that, 
here  on  the  Pacific,  the  greatest  of  the  oceans,  we  as  a  nation  are 
growing  by  leaps  and  by  bounds,  our  interests  increasing  with  ever 
accelerating  rapidity,  and  if  we  are  to  protect  those  interests, 
and  to  take  the  position  we  should  take,  we  must  see  that  the 
growth  of  the  navy  takes  place  with  equal  rapidity  with  the 
growth  of  the  interests  that  it  is  to  protect. 

When  I  come  to  speak  of  the  preservation  of  the  forests,  of 
the  preservation  of  the  waters,  of  the  use  of  the  waters  from 
the  mountains  and  of  the  waters  obtained  by  artesian  wells,  I 
only  have  to  appeal  to  your  own  knowledge,  to  your  experience. 
I  have  been  passing  through  a  veritable  garden  of  the  earth 
yesterday  and  today,  here  in  the  southern  half  of  California,  and 
it  has  been  made  such  by  the  honesty  and  wisdom  of  your  peo- 
ple, and  by  the  way  in  which  you  have  preserved  your  waters  and 
utilized  them.  I  ask  that  you  simply  keep  on  as  you  have  begun, 
and  that  you  let  the  rest  of  the  nation  follow  suit.  We  must 
preserve  the  forests  to  preserve  the  waters,  which  are  themselves 
preserved  by  the  forests,  if  we  wish  to  make  this  country  as  a 
whole  blossom  as  you  have  made  this  part  of  California  blossom. 

In  saying  good-by  to  you  I  want  to  say  that  it  has  been  the 
greatest  pleasure  to  see  you,  and  I  am  glad,  my  fellow-Americans, 
to  think  that  you  and  I  are  citizens  of  the  same  country.  (Cheers 
and  applause.) 


[30] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
OXNARD,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  9,  1903 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  wish  to  say  what  a  great  pleasure  it  has  been  to  be  here 
today,  and  to  see  the  tangible  evidence  of  the  extraordinary 
industry  that  has  been  started  here  within  the  last  five  years.  It 
has  been  the  greatest  pleasure.  I  am  not  surprised  at  it,  because 
the  last  two  days  in  California  have  taught  me  not  to  be  surprised 
at  anything.  And  I  am  glad  to  see  what  has  been  done  by  your 
beet  culture,  fruit  culture  of  every  kind,  irrigation,  and  tilling 
of  the  soil.  (Applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT 
VENTURA,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  9,  1903 

SENATOR  BARD,  AND  You,   MY   FELLOW-CITIZENS,  MY  FELLOW- 
AMERICANS  : 

I  have  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  time  I  have  spent  in  your  wonder- 
ful and  beautiful  State.  Just  now  I  have  for  the  first  time  in  my 
life  seen  the  greatest  of  all  the  oceans.  (Applause.)  When  I  come 
here  to  California  I  am  not  in  the  West,  I  am  west  of  the  West. 
It  is  just  California.  And  yet,  oh,  my  fellow-countrymen,  the 
thing  after  all  that  strikes  me  most  is  the  fact  that  when  I  speak 
to  you  who  dwell  beside  the  Pacific,  I,  who  have  come  from 
beside  the  Atlantic,  am  speaking  to  my  own  people,  with  the 
same  thoughts  and  the  same  ideals.  (Applause.)  How  could  it 
be  otherwise  in  a  community  where  I  am  greeted  first  by  the 
men  of  the  Grand  Army,  by  the  men  who,  in  the  days  that  tried 
men's  souls,  so  worked  and  so  fought  that  today  we  have  one 
country  and  one  flag;  and  each  of  us  here,  each  man  and  each 
woman,  is  walking  with  head  erect  because  of  citizenship  in  the 
proudest  and  greatest  republic  upon  which  the  sun  has  ever 
shone?  (Applause.) 

This  is  the  third  day  that  I  have  been  traveling  among  the 
people  who,  as  the  Senator  said,  are  primarily  tillers  of  the  soil, 
whose  cities  have  been  built  up  because  of  the  abundant  yield  of 
the  soil  thus  tilled,  and  I  have  had  the  experience  that  all  of  us 
have  had  who  read  about  things  in  advance,  and  yet  cannot  quite 
realize  them  until  they  see  them.  I  had  known  from  hearsay  and 
from  books  of  the  wonderful  fertility,  the  wonderful  beauty,  of 
this  semi-tropical  climate  and  soil,  but  I  had  not  realized  all  that 
it  was  until  I  saw  it  myself.  I  am  now  for  the  third  day  passing 
through  a  veritable  little  earthly  paradise.  I  do  not  wonder  that 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


you  look  happy.  I  should  be  ashamed  of  you  if  you  did  not.  I 
have  been,  of  course,  amazed  at  the  yield  of  your  soil,  treated  as 
it  has  been  with  such  wisdom  and  industry  by  those  who  have 
tilled  it,  showing  especially  the  amount  that  can  be  done  by 
irrigation,  the  amount  that  can  be  done  by  a  combination  of 
scientific  and  practical  agriculture,  at  your  oranges,  at  the  growth 
of  the  beet-sugar  industries,  at  all  your  fruit  products,  at  all  your 
agricultural  products.  I  have  also  been  glad  to  see  such  good 
horses. 

I  want  to  say  a  word  of  special  greeting  to  my  friends  over 
yonder,  of  the  school,  who  are  on  horseback.  You  know  the 
old  idea  of  education  was  to  teach  a  boy  to  ride,  shoot,  and  tell 
the  truth.  Now  we  want  to  teach  him  something  besides  that, 
but  he  wants  to  know  those  three  things  also.  Of  course,  if  he 
does  not  tell  the  truth  then  nothing  can  be  done  with  him  in  any 
way  or  shape.  You  can  pardon  most  anything  in  a  man  who 
will  tell  the  truth,  because  you  know  where  that  man  is;  you 
know  what  he  means.  If  any  one  lies,  if  he  has  the  habit  of 
untruthfulness,  you  cannot  deal  with  him,  because  there  is  noth- 
ing to  depend  on.  You  cannot  tell  what  can  be  done  with  him  or 
by  his  aid.  Truth  telling  is  a  virtue  upon  which  we  should  not 
only  insist  in  the  schools  and  at  home,  but  in  business  and  in 
politics  just  as  much.  (Applause.)  The  business  man  or  politi- 
cian who  does  not  tell  the  truth  cheats;  and  for  the  cheat  we 
should  have  no  use  in  any  walk  of  life.  (Applause.) 

I  wish,  Senator  Bard,  speaking  from  this  building,  to  thank 
especially  the  teachers  for  what  they  have  done.  While,  of 
course,  each  man  and  each  woman  must  remember  that  no  one  can 
relieve  them  from  their  duties  in  educating  their  children,  yet 
their  work  must  be  supplemented  by  that  of  the  teachers;  and 
it  must  be  work  done  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  wage,  but 
for  the  sake  of  doing  the  work,  if  the  next  generation  is  to  be 
worthy  of  the  generation  that  fought  in  the  Civil  War.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  wish  to  express  always  the  debt  of  gratitude  which 
all  good  citizens  must  feel  that  we  owe  to  the  men  and  women 

[33] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


who  make  their  special  work  the  training  of  the  children.  Our 
whole  future,  of  course,  depends  primarily  upon  how  the  next 
generation  turns  out.  All  of  the  agricultural  improvements,  all 
of  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  all  of  the  building  up  of  cities  and 
railroads,  all  the  growth  of  commerce,  all  the  growth  of  manu- 
factures, will  count  for  nothing  if  you  have  not  got  the  right  type 
of  men  and  women  in  the  future.  It  is  upon  that  that  ultimately 
the  fate  of  the  nation  depends. 

I  was  greeted  here  by  the  pioneers,  the  men  who  first  came 
here.  They  could  come  here,  our  people  could  come  here,  and 
conquer  this  continent  only  because  of  the  individual  worth  of 
the  average  citizen,  because  the  average  pioneer  had  in  him  the 
quality  which  made  him  fit  to  do  battle  with,  and  to  overcome, 
wild  man  and  wild  nature.  We  are  here  upon  the  foundations 
of  an  old  colony  which  had  been  in  existence  well-nigh  three 
quarters  of  a  century  before  the  people  of  our  stock  came  to 
California.  That  old  colony  represented  much  for  which  we  have 
to  be  grateful,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  every  effort  made  to  cherish 
the  memories  of  that  time,  to  keep  alive  what  was  best  in  it,  but 
at  the  same  time  we  must  remember  the  obvious  truth  that  in 
the  half  century  that  followed  the  advent  of  the  first  people  of 
our  stock  here,  this  country  progressed  a  thousand-fold  more 
rapidly  than  it  had  in  the  preceding  three-quarters  of  a  century. 
It  thus  progressed  primarily  because  of  the  individual  quality  of 
the  men  who  came  into  it.  (Applause.)  And  it  will  progress 
in  the  future  only  on  condition  that  we  keep  up  to  the  highest 
standard  that  quality  of  individual  citizenship;  and  that  can  be 
kept  up  only  if  the  boys  and  girls  of  today  are  so  trained  that 
the  men  and  women  of  the  future  shall  come  up  to  the  highest 
standard  demanded  in  American  life.  Trained  in  body?  Of 
course  I  believe  in  that  emphatically.  I  wish  to  see  our  people 
hardy,  vigorous,  strong,  able  to  hold  their  own  in  whatever  test 
may  arise.  I  wish  to  see  them  able  to  work  and  able  to  play  hard. 
I  believe  in  play,  and  I  like  to  see  people  play  hard  while  they 
play,  and  when  they  work  I  do  not  want  to  see  them  play  at  all. 

[34] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


That  is  good  sense  for  the  younger  people  and  good  sense  for 
the  older  people.  If  I  had  any  word  of  advice  (which  is  a 
very  cheap  commodity)  to  give  to  you  I  should  say:  Get  all  the 
enjoyment  you  legitimately  can  out  of  life,  but  remember  that 
the  only  sure  way  of  getting  in  the  end  no  enjoyment  out  of  life, 
is  to  start  in  to  make  it  the  end  of  your  existence.  The  poorest 
life  that  any  one  can  live  from  the  standpoint  of  pleasure  is  the 
life  that  has  nothing  but  pleasure  as  its  end  and  aim.  While  I 
hope  that  as  the  chance  occurs  each  man  will  get  all  the  fun  he 
can  out  of  life,  remember  that  when  it  comes  not  merely  to  look- 
ing back  upon  it,  but  to  living  it,  the  kind  of  life  that  is  worth 
living  is  the  kind  of  life  that  is  embodied  in  duty  worth  doing 
which  is  well  done.  (Applause.)  I  want  to  see  the  children 
brought  up  with  strong  bodies.  I  wish  them  to  have  strong 
minds,  and  I  wish  them  to  have  that  which  counts  for  more  than 
body,  for  more  than  mind — character ;  character,  into  which  many 
elements  enter,  but  above  all,  the  three,  of  honesty,  of  courage 
and  of  common  sense.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[35] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT 
SANTA    BARBARA,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  9,  1903 

JUDGE,  AND  You,   MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS,   MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF 
SANTA  BARBARA: 

It  has  been  a  great  and  singular  pleasure  to  spend  these  three 
days  in  Southern  California.  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  before 
so  thoroughly  understood  the  phrase,  "A  garden  of  the  Lord." 
That  is  what  you  are  living  in,  and  I  do  not  wonder  that  you 
look  happy  and  contented.  I  should  think  but  ill  of  you  if  you 
were  not.  Today,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  have  seen  the 
greatest  of  the  oceans;  I  have  come  across  the  continent  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific;  from  the  East  to  the  West,  and  now 
west  of  the  West,  into  California.  I  am  particularly  glad  to 
be  greeted  here  at  Santa  Barbara,  by  the  men  who  wear  afloat 
the  uniform  of  Uncle  Sam.  (Applause.)  At  every  stop  here 
in  your  State  I  am  met  by  representatives  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  of  the  men  to  whom  we  owe  it  that  because  they 
showed  their  faith  by  their  works  when  works  meant  blood  and 
toil  and  effort  well-nigh  superhuman,  because  the^.  did  that, 
when  I  come  here,  I  come  to  a  people  living  under  the  same 
flag  that  floats  from  the  gulf  to  the  great  lakes  in  the  Eastern 
half  of  our  land;  it  is  because  of  what  they  did  that  there  is  a 
President  to  come  here  at  all;  it  is  because  of  what  they  did 
that  when  I  come  here  I  see  the  men  from  the  United  States 
Navy  ashore  here  in  California ;  it  is  because  of  what  they  did 
that  when  the  war  came  in  1898,  the  great  warship  Oregon 
steamed  southward  from  California  around  the  cape,  up  the 
Atlantic  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  decisive  victory  off  Santiago 
Harbor.  The  fundamental  lesson  to  learn  from  one  end  of  this 
country  to  the  other  is  the  essential  unity  of  our  people;  and  I 

[36] 


AT  SANTA  BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA,  MAY  9,  1903. 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

speak  here  in  a  State  which  is  what  it  now  is  because  the 
pioneers  who  came  here  came  with  empire  in  their  brains,  came 
to  pitch  a  new  commonwealth  by  the  side  of  the  great  ocean, 
as  old  world  men  pitched  tents,  because  they  were  of  a  stock 
which  dared  to  be  great,  and  we  in  our  time  now  must  dare  to 
be  great.  Our  country  looks  eastward  across  the  Atlantic  and 
westward  across  the  Pacific,  across  to  that  West  which  is  the 
hoary  East,  from  the  Occident  west  to  the  Orient.  (Applause.) 
I  fail  to  see  how  any  son  of  this  country,  worthy  to  be  descended 
from  the  men  of  '61  to  '65 — the  men  who  upheld  the  statesman- 
ship of  Lincoln  and  who  followed  to  victory  Grant  and  Sherman 
and  Thomas  and  Sheridan — I  fail  to  see  how  any  true  son  of 
theirs  can  in  his  turn  fail  to  welcome  with  eager  joy  the  chance 
to  make  this  country  greater  even  than  it  has  been  before.  Of 
course  we  have  great  tasks  before  us.  The  man  who  has  not 
got  great  tasks  to  do  cannot  .achieve  greatness.  Greatness 
only  comes  because  the  task  to  be  done  is  great.  The  men  who 
lead  lives  of  mere  ease,  of  mere  pleasure,  the  men  who  go  through 
life  seeking  how  to  avoid  trouble,  to  avoid  risk,  to  avoid  effort, 
to  them  it  is  not  given  to  achieve  greatness.  Greatness  comes 
only  to  those  who  seek  not  how  to  avoid,  obstacles,  but  how  to 
overcome  them.  (Applause.) 

Here  I  speak  in  a  region  where  there  remain  memorials  of  an 
older  civilization  than  ours,  of  a  civilization  that  was  in  Califor- 
nia three-quarters  of  a  century  before  the  first  hardy  people 
of  the  new  stock  crossed  the  desert,  crossed  the  mountain  chains, 
or  came  by  ships  up  from  the  isthmus,  and  I  want  to  congratulate 
you  upon  the  way  in  which  you  are  perpetuating  the  memorials 
of  that  elder  civilization.  It  is  a  fine  thing  in  a  new  community 
to  try  to  keep  alive  the  continuity  of  historic  interests;  it  is  a 
fine  thing  to  try  to  remember  the  background  which  even  those 
of  us  who  are  most  confident  of  the  future  may  be  pleased  to 
see  existed  in  the  past;  and  I  am  pleased  to  see  how  in  your 
architecture,  both  in  the  architecture  of  new  and  great  buildings 
going  up,  and  in  the  architecture  of  the  old  buildings,  and  in 

[37] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


many  other  ways,  you  are,  by  keeping  the  touch  and  flavor  of  the 
older  civilization,  giving  a  peculiar  flavor  to  our  own  new  civ- 
ilization, and  in  an  age  when  the  tendency  is  a  trifle  toward  too 
great  uniformity.  (Applause.) 

I  wonder  whether  you  really  appreciate  how  beautiful  your 
country  is.  Sometimes  people  grow  so  familiar  with  their  sur- 
roundings that  they  fail  entirely  to  appreciate  them.  I  had  read 
and  heard  of  the  marvelous  beauty  of  Southern  California,  the 
beauty  of  your  climate,  the  wonderful  fertility  of  your  soil,  but 
I  had  not  realized  it;  I  could  not  realize  it  until  I  saw  it.  It 
seems  to  me  as  though  there  could  not  be  another  spot  on  the 
world's  surface  blessed  in  quite  the  same  way  that  this  has  been 
blessed.  And  now,  my  fellow-citizens,  so  much  has  been  given 
to  you,  so  much  must  of  right  be  expected  from  you.  As  you 
have  for  your  good  fortune  been  placed  down  in  this  beautiful 
region  with  its  wonderful  climate,  with  its  soil,  with  all  the 
chance  for  development  that  it  offers,  so  we  have  a  right  to 
expect  a  particularly  high  type  of  American  citizenship  from  you. 
In  the  long  run,  mind  you,  that  is  what  counts.  I  have  been  de- 
lighted to  see  the  orange  groves,  to  see  your  olive  orchards,  to 
see  all  the  marvelous  products  of  this  soil,  the  products  tem- 
perate and  semi-tropic.  Of  course,  in  the  last  analysis  the  ma- 
terial prosperity  of  any  country  rests  more  even  than  upon  its 
manufactures,  its  commerce,  or  its  mines,  upon  what  is  success- 
fully accomplished  by  the  tillers  of  the  soil,  upon  the  products 
of  the  soil ;  and  our  material  well-being  depends  in  the  long  run 
more  than  upon  anything  else  upon  what  we  develop  agricul- 
turally; so  that  I  congratulate  you  upon  that.  I  congratulate 
you  upon  your  wonderful  material  prosperity;  but  it  is  only 
the  foundation  for  the  higher  life  of  citizenship,  and  it  can  be 
no  more.  It  is  indispensable  as  a  foundation  of  course;  the 
house  cannot  be  built  unless  the  foundation  is  broad  and  deep; 
we  cannot  develop  the  higher  life  unless  we  have  the  material 
prosperity,  the  physical  well-being  upon  which  to  develop  it. 
But  we  are  not  to  be  excused  if  we  fail  to  go  on  and  build  the 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


superstructure  of  intellectual,  moral,  spiritual  growth  upon  the 
well-being  of  the  body.  In  introducing  me,  Judge,  you  spoke 
of  the  problems  that  confront  our  civilization  from  within  and 
from  without.  The  problems  differ  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, but  the  qualities  that  are  needed  to  solve  them  remain 
unchanged  from  world's  end  to  world's  end.  The  qualities 
needed  to  solve  aright  the  problems  of  today  are  the  same  quali- 
ties that  were  needed  by  the  men  who  in  1861  found  themselves 
confronted  with  the  question  of  whether  or  not  this  country 
should  remain  all  united  and  free,  or  divided  and  partially  unfree, 
and  we  can  solve,  and  we  will  solve  all  the  questions  that  come 
up  if  we  approach  them  in  the  spirit  with  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  the  men  of  his  generation  approached  the  mighty  task  that 
the  Lord  had  set  them  to  do,  if  we  approach  them  with  his  cour- 
age, his  patience,  his  resolution  and  his  sane  and  human  com- 
mon sense.  The  lessons  that  you  taught — you  men  of  the  great 
war — applied  not  only  in  war,  but  apply  in  peace.  You  sought 
the  lesson  of  brotherhood  first.  Was  there  ever  brotherhood 
closer  than  the  brotherhood  of  those  who  marched  to  battle 
together,  who  fought  together,  who  lay  out  in  the  frozen  mud 
of  the  winter  trenches  together,  and  who  saw  the  brightest  and 
best  of  those  around  them  give  up  their  young  lives  under  battle, 
under  bayonet,  or  on  the  fever  cots  of  the  hospitals?  No  brother 
could  be  closer  than  that.  How  did  you  work  out  your  prob- 
lems there?  You  worked  them  out  fundamentally  by  standing 
each  on  his  worth  as  a  man.  You  worked  them  out  by  treating 
the  man  on  your  right  and  the  man  on  your  left  according  to 
what  they  proved  themselves  to  be  without  regard  to  any  adven- 
titious or  accidental  outside  circumstances.  Take  the  man  on 
the  right  hand  or  the  man  on  the  left — little  you  cared  for  his 
wealth ;  little  you  cared  for  his  social  position ;  small  was  your 
concern  as  to  the  creed  according  to  which  he  worshiped  his 
Maker.  What  did  concern  you  was  to  know  whether  his  mettle 
would  ring  true  on  war's  red  touchstone.  That  is  what  was 
of  vital  consequence  to  you.  If  he  had  that  in  him;  if  he  had 

[39] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


the  iron  will,  the  spirit  that  drove  him  forward  over  defeat  to 
the  ultimate  triumph,  all  else  was  of  small  consequence.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  citizenship  now.  There  is  not  any 
patent  device  by  which  we  can  get  good  government.  There  is 
not  any  way  by  which  we  can  alter  or  reshape  the  general  scheme 
of  things,  by  which  we  can  avoid  the  necessity  of  practicing 
the  old,  humdrum,  everyday,  commonplace  'virtues,  for  the  lack 
of  which  in  the  individual  as  in  the  nation,  no  brilliancy,  no 
genius,  can  ever  atone.  As  a  nation  and  individually  we  must 
show  the  fundamental  qualities  of  hardihood,  courage,  manliness, 
of  decency,  morality,  clean  living,  fair  dealing  as  between  man 
and  man,  of  common  sense,  the  saving  grace  of  common  sense. 
We  must  show  the  qualities  which  made  us  as  a  nation  able  to, 
free  ourselves  in  1776,  able  to  preserve  our  national  existence  in 
1861 ;  and  if  we  fail  to  show  them  we  will  go  down ;  and  be- 
cause we  will  show  them  we  will  make  of  this  country  the 
mightiest  upon  which  the  sun  has  ever  shone.  (Applause.) 

New  methods  must  be  devised  for  meeting  the  various  prob- 
lems that  come  up.  Our  complex  industrial  civilization  with  its 
great  concentration  of  population  and  of  capital  in  cities,  with 
its  extraordinary  increase  in  the  rapidity  and  ease  of  communi- 
cation, alike  communication  of  news  and  transportation — that 
complex  civilization  has  brought  new  problems  before  us.  It 
has  brought  much  of  good  and  some  evil;  but  it  has  not  altered 
in  the  slightest  the  need  for  the  old,  fundamental  virtues.  The 
men  of  '61  fought  for  liberty  under  the  law,  liberty  by  and 
through  the  law.  They  fought  to  establish  the  principle  that 
the  law  was  supreme;  that  no  man,  great  or  small,  stood  above 
it  or  without  it;  that  no  man  could  violate  it,  and  that  no  man 
could  be  denied  its  protection.  Now  in  civil  life  no  man  can 
be  allowed  to  put  himself  above  the  law,  the  law  that  is  to  check 
greed  and  violence,  that  is  to  put  a  stop  to  every  form  of  outrage 
by  one  man  against  another,  the  law  under  and  through  which 
alone  can  we  preserve  republican  institutions  and  democratic 

[40] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

liberty.  The  violence  that  accompanies  license  is  the  hand-maiden 
of  tyranny,  and  has  throughout  the  world's  history  proved  but 
the  harbinger  of  despotism.  You,  of  the  great  war,  forever 
established  the  fact  that  there  should  be  no  appeal  to  sectional 
hate  in  this  country,  and  just  as  evil  is  it  to  strive  to  arouse  any 
spirit  of  antagonism  based  upon  class  or  creed.  Any  form  of 
hatred  of  one's  neighbor  is  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  our  govern- 
ment, whether  it  take  the  shape  of  the  arrogance  which  looks 
down  upon  those  who  are  less  well  off,  which  would  oppress 
those  less  able  to  protect  themselves,  or  the  rancor  and  envy 
which  regard  with  jealous  ill  will  those  who  are  better  off. 
Either  feeling  is  unworthy  of  American  freemen.  (Applause.) 

I  make  my  appeal  to  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  in  the  name  of 
those  qualities  which  underlie  the  very  existence  of  our  form  of 
government.  I  ask  for  brotherhood.  I  ask  for  the  willingness 
of  each  to  help  the  other;  for  the  readiness  of  men  to  act  in 
combination  for  the  common  good ;  but  I  ask  you  also,  as  you 
will  not  inflict  wrong,  so  not  to  suffer  it.  I  ask  you  to  remember 
that  though  the  law  can  do  something,  that  though  the  honest 
administration  of  the  law  can  do  more,  that  though  something 
more  can  be  done  by  acting  in  organization,  in  combination,  with 
one's  fellows  privately,  yet  that  in  the  long  run,  in  the  ultimate 
analysis,  each  man's  success  must  rest  upon  the  sum  of  that 
man's  individual  qualities.  That  is  the  determining  factor  in 
the  end  as  to  whether  the  man  rises  or  falls. 

Every  one  of  you  veterans  knows  that  in  the  war  there  were 
some  men  who  would  not  by  training  or  any  arming  make  good 
soldiers.  If  the  man  did  not  have  the  stuff  in  him  it  was  not 
there  to  get  out  of  him.  (Applause.)  It  is  just  so  in  citizenship. 
There  is  not  a  man  of  us  who  does  not  at  times  slip  or  stumble, 
and  in  that  case  it  speaks  ill  of  any  one  who  fails  to  reach  out 
a  helping  hand  to  his  brother;  but  if  a  man  lies  down  you  cannot 
carry  him.  You  can  help  a  man  only  in  the  way  which  alone 
is  of  real  ultimate  help — you  can  help  him  to  help  himself.  He 
has  got  to  have  it  in  him  to  make  the  effort,  to  strive.  He  has 

[41] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


got  to  have  in  him  the  qualities  which  will  make  him  a  good 
husband,  a  good  father,  a  good  neighbor,  a  man  who  deals  justly 
by  others,  and  does  his  duty  by  the  State.  If  he  has  not  got 
it  in  him,  you  cannot  help  him.  He  will  remain  to  the  end  a 
drag  upon  himself  and  upon  every  one  else.  I  ask  that  we 
keep  that  in  mind ;  that  we  remember  our  obligations  to  ourselves 
and  to  the  country,  and  that  we  steadfastly  strive  to  raise  ever 
higher  the  average  of  individual  citizenship,  for  if  that  average 
is  high  enough,  scant  need  be  our  concern  as  to  the  fate  of  the 
State.  I  believe  in  your  future,  I  believe  in  our  future,  because 
I  believe  with  all  my  heart  that  in  the  future  all  America  will 
raise  the  standard  of  individual  citizenship;  that  we  will  raise 
that  standard  not  merely  in  body  and  in  mind,  but  in  that  which 
counts  for  more  than  body,  for  more  than  mind,  in  character — 
character,  upon  which  ultimately  rests  the  fate  of  every  nation. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 


[4*1 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    TO    THE    FOREST    RANGERS 
AT    SANTA    BARBARA 

MAY  9,  1903 

Let  me  say  a  word  of  thanks  to  the  members  of  the  forestry 
force  who  acted  as  my  escort.  I  wish  to  thank  the  other  gen- 
tlemen also,  but  particularly  the  members  of  the  forestry  force. 
I  am,  as  you  gentlemen  probably  know,  exceedingly  interested 
in  the  question  of  forestry  preservation.  I  think  our  people  are 
growing  more  and  more  to  understand  that  in  reference  to  the 
forests  and  the  wild  creatures  of  the  wilderness  our  aim  should 
be  not  to  destroy  them  simply  for  the  selfish  pleasure  of  one 
generation,  but  to  keep  them  for  our  children  and  our  children's 
children.  I  wish  you,  the  Forest  Rangers,  and  also  all  the 
others,  to  protect  the  game  and  wild  creatures,  and  of  course 
in  California,  where  the  water  supply  is  a  matter  of  such  vital 
moment,  the  preservation  of  the  forests  for  the  merely  utilitarian 
side  is  of  the  utmost,  of  the  highest  possible  consequence;  and 
there  are  no  members  of  our  body  politic  who  are  doing  better 
work  than  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  preservation  of  the  for- 
ests, the  keeping  of  nature  as  it  is  for  the  sake  of  its  use  and 
for  the  sake  of  its  beauty.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[43] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
SURF,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  9,  1903 

MY  FELLOW- CITIZENS  : 

I  cannot  say  how  much  I  have  enjoyed  these  three  days  in 
California.  It  is  the  first  time  I  ever  was  in  your  great  and 
beautiful  State;  and  but  a  few  hours  ago  I  saw  for  the  first  time 
the  greatest  of  all  the  oceans.  I  have  enjoyed  it  to  the  full.  I 
have  enjoyed  the  climate,  seeing  the  fruits  of  the  soil,  seeing  all 
that  has  been  done  agriculturally  and  industrially.  I  have  en- 
joyed noting  the  marvelous  material  progress  and  prosperity; 
but  what  I  have  enjoyed  most  has  been  seeing  the  men  anc! 
women  of  California.  It  has  been  to  me  an  education  to  come 
here  to  California.  I  did  not  need  to  feel  what  I  felt  already, 
how  much  of  our  destiny  lay  on  the  Pacific,  but  I  am  glad  to  have 
seen  your  people.  I  have  realized  more  even  than  I  already 
realized  it  the  fundamental  oneness  of  the  American  nation.  I 
have  come  from  the  Atlantic  across  the  continent,  and  here  I 
am  addressing  an  American  audience  with  the  same  ideals,  the 
same  aspirations,  the  same  hopes,  the  same  purposes,  that  the 
audiences  have  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  or  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  I  am  glad  to  have  met  you.  I  believe  in  you  with  all 
my  heart  and  soul,  and  I  believe  that  your  future  will  be  even 
greater  than  your  past.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[44] 


ISSION  SANTA  BARBARA,  "  PORTAL  OF  THE  THREE  SKULLS, 
SANTA  BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA,  MAY  9,  1903, 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS    AT 
SAN    LUIS    OBISPO,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  9,  1903 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

It  is  indeed  a  great  pleasure  to  have  the  chance  of  meeting  you 
this  afternoon.  For  three  days  now  I  have  been  traveling 
through  your  wonderful  and  beautiful  State  and  I  marvel  at  its 
fertility.  I  am  not  surprised  to  see  you  looking  happy.  I  should 
be  ashamed  of  you  if  you  did  not.  (Applause.) 

I  know  of  this  county  in  connection  with  certain  Eastern  agri- 
cultural producers,  for  unless  I  mistake,  those  who  offered  prizes 
for  the  largest  vegetables  and  fruits  of  certain  kinds  have  had 
to  bar  the  products  from  this  county,  because  they  invariably 
won  the  prizes.  (Applause.)  I  know  of  one  Eastern  producer 
who  said  that  the  products  of  this  county  would  have  to  be 
barred,  because  he  had  spent  already  $500  in  prizes  to  the  county 
and  had  gotten  back  but  $14  for  seeds.  I  have  forgotten  all  of 
the  records  that  you  have  in  the  county.  I  know  that  the  largest 
pumpkin,  watermelon  and  onion  came  from  here,  so  that  your 
agricultural  products  have  made  a  name  for  themselves  to  be 
feared.  Of  course,  in  stock  raising  and  dairying  the  county 
stands  equally  prominent.  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  the  State  of 
California  is  erecting  here  the  polytechnic  institute  for  giving 
all  the  scientific  training  in  the  arts  of  farm  life.  More  and 
more  our  people  have  waked  to  the  fact  that  farming  is  not  only 
a  practical,  but  a  scientific  pursuit,  and  that  there  should  be  the 
same  chance  for  the  tiller  of  the  soil  to  make  his  a  learned  pro- 
fession that  there  is  in  any  other  business. 

For  three  days  I  have  been  traveling  through  one  of  those 
regions  of  our  country  where  the  interests  are  agricultural  and 
pastoral,  where  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  man  who  grows  stock. 

[45] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


who  is  engaged  in  agriculture,  is  the  man  whose  interest  is  pre- 
dominant; and  of  course  it  is  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  it 
is  the  earth  tiller,  the  soil  tiller,  the  man  of  the  farms,  the  man 
of  the  ranches,  who  stands  as  the  one  citizen  indispensable  to 
the  entire  community.  The  welfare  of  the  nation  depends  even 
more  than  upon  the  welfare  of  the  wage-worker,  upon  the  wel- 
fare of  the  home-maker  of  the  country  regions.  I  congratulate 
you  people  of  California  upon  the  evidence  that  you  have  grasped 
the  fact  which  our  people  must  grasp,  that  the  legislation  of 
the  country  must  be  shaped  in  the  direction  of  promoting  the 
interests  of  the  man  who  has  come  on  the  soil  to  stay  and  to 
rear  his  children  to  take  his  place  after  him.  We  have  passed 
the  stage  as  a  nation  when  we  can  afford  to  tolerate  the  man 
whose  aim  it  is  merely  to  skin  the  soil  and  go  on;  to  skin  the 
country,  to  take  off  the  timber,  to  exhaust  it,  and  go  on;  our 
aim  must  be  by  laws  promotive  of  irrigation,  by  laws  securing 
the  wise  use  in  perpetuity  of  the  forests,  by  laws  shaped  in  every 
way  to  promote  the  permanent  interests  of  the  country.  Our 
aim  must  be  to  hand  over  to  our  children  not  an  impoverished 
but  an  improved  heritage.  That  is  the  part  of  wisdom  for  our 
people.  We  wish  to  hand  over  our  country  to  our  children  in 
better  shape,  not  in  worse  shape,  than  we  ourselves  got  it. 
(Applause.) 

I  have  congratulated  you  upon  your  material  well-being  and 
upon  the  steps  that  you  are  taking  still  further  to  increase  that 
material  well-being.  I  wish  further  to  congratulate  you  upon 
what  counts  even  more  than  material  prosperity,  upon  taking 
care  of  the  interests  that  go  to  make  up  the  higher  life  of  the 
nation.  I  am  greeted  here  by  men  who  wear  the  button  that 
shows  that  they  proved  true  to  a  lofty  ideal  when  Abraham 
Lincoln  called  to  arms  in  the  hour  of  the  nation's  agony.  (Ap- 
plause.) Our  nation  showed  itself  great  in  those  days  because 
the  nation's  sons  in  '61  and  the  years  immediately  following 
had  it  in  them  to  care  for  something  more  even  than  material 
well-being,  because  they  had  it  in  them  to  feel  the  lift  toward 

[46] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


lofty  things  which  only  generous  souls  can  feel.  I  see  around 
me  the  men  who  took  part  in  the  great  Civil  War,  whose  pres- 
ence should  excuse  me  from  preaching,  for  their  practice  preaches 
louder  than  any  words  of  mine  could.  (Applause.) 

I  have  seen  everywhere  through  your  State,  in  addition,  the 
care  you  are  taking  in  educating  the  children.  I  have  been 
struck  by  the  schools,  and  as  I  have  said  a  special  word  of  greet- 
ing  to  the  men  who  deserve  so  well  of  the  nation,  so  I  wish  to 
say  a  special  greeting  to  the  future,  to  the  children,  to  those 
who  are  to  be  the  men  and  women  of  the  next  generation;  and 
upon  whom  it  will  depend  whether  this  country  goes  forward 
or  not.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  raise  such  products  as  you  have 
raised  on  your  farms;  it  is  a  better  thing  to  bring  up  such  chil- 
dren as  I  think  I  have  been  seeing  today.  I  like  the  way  in 
which,  through  your  schools,  you  are  training  the  children  to 
citizenship  in  the  future.  Ultimately,  though  soil  and  climate 
will  count  for  much,  what  will  count  for  most  is  the  average 
character  in  the  individual  citizen,  the  individual  man  or  woman ; 
that  is  what  counts  in  the  long  run  in  making  a  nation.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

I  go  from  you  with  an  even  increased  faith  in  the  future  of 
our  country,  the  future  of  America,  because  I  go  with  an  even 
increased  faith  and  confidence  in  what  the  average  American 
citizen  is  and  will  be.  I  believe  in  you,  men  and  women  of 
California,  men  and  women  of  America,  of  the  United  States, 
because  I  feel  that  you  are  not  only  sound  in  body  and  sound  in 
mind,  but  that  which  counts  for  more  than  body,  more  than 
mind — character,  into  which  many  different  elements  enter — 
but  above  all,  the  elements  of  decency,  of  courage,  and  of  com- 
mon sense.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[47] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
PASO     ROBLES,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  9,  1903 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  cannot  say  how  I  have  enjoyed  the  three  days  I  have  spent 
in  California^  I  had  heard  much  and  read  much  of  the  wonder- 
ful beauty  of  your  State,  of  its  climate,  of  the  fertility  of  its 
soil,  but  I  had  not  been  able  to  fix  in  my  mind  what  it  really 
would  be.  I  think  I  was  a  pretty  good  American  when  I  came 
here,  but  I  feel  that  I  am  a  better  American  now.  It  has  done 
me  good  to  see  you.  I  congratulate  you  upon  all  that  you  have 
done  in  business,  in  agriculture,  in  commerce,  in  industries  of 
all  kinds;  but  most  of  all  I  congratulate  you  and  all  of  us  upon 
the  type  of  citizenship  that  you  have  produced.  In  the  last 
analysis  the  nation  will  go  up  or  go  down  according  to  the 
standard  of  the  average  man  or  woman.  It  is  a  good  thing  to 
have  farms,  ranches,  railroads,  factories  and  commerce,  but  they 
will  avail  nothing  if  we  have  not  the  right  type  of  average  citi- 
zen to  take  advantage  of  them.  One  thing  that  has  pleased  me 
particularly  in  coming  through  your  State  has  been  to  see  the 
schools,  the  attention  paid  to  the  education  of  your  children.  I 
have  been  glad  to  meet  the  men  and  women,  and  I  think  I  have 
been  even  gladder  to  see  the  children.  (Applause.)  Of  course 
it  is  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  not  all  our  natural  advantages, 
not  all  our  industrial  success  will  avail  unless  the  American  of 
the  future  is  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  achievements  of  the 
past  and  to  turn  them  to  the  best  possible  account.  We  need 
the  material  well-being  as  the  foundation  upon  which  to  build 
and  we  cannot  build  unless  we  have  that  foundation,  but  it  is 
only  the  foundation  and  upon  it  must  be  raised  the  superstructure 
of  the  higher  civic  life.  And  for  that  life  you  are  providing  in 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


preparing  those  of  the  next  generation  for  the  ever  higher  spirit- 
ual, moral  and  intellectual  development.  I  have  been  very  glad 
to  see  you ;  glad  to  have  come  from  the  Atlantic,  from  the  East, 
through  the  West,  and  now  to  this  West  of  the  West — to  Cali- 
fornia. (Applause.)  There  is  another  thing  I  was  glad  here 
on  the  seacoast  to  see — a  vessel  of  the  United  States  Navy.  We 
have  begun  to  take  our  position  as  a  world  power,  a  power 
situated  on  a  continent  fronting  on  two  oceans,  and  we  must 
have  a  navy  to  assert  our  position.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[49] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
PAJARO,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  n,  1905 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  want  to  thank  you  for  coming  out  to  greet  me  this  morning. 
I  have  been  giving  much  more  time  to  California  than  to  any 
other  State,  and  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  I  have  enjoyed  every  hour 
I  have  been  in  your  beautiful  and  wonderful  State.  I  have  been 
traveling  up  from  the  South  and  shall  now  visit  San  Francisco, 
then  go  straight  through  to  the  North.  It  seems  to  me  every 
good  American  that  can  should  visit  the  Pacific  Slope,  to  realize 
where  so  much  of  our  country's  greatness  in  the  future  will  lie. 
I  did  not  need  to  come  out  here  in  order  to  believe  in  you  and 
your  work.  I  knew  you  well  and  believed  in  you  before  with 
all  my  heart,  but  it  has  done  me  good  to  get  in  touch  with  you. 
The  thing  that  has  impressed  me  most  coming  from  the  Atlantic 
across  to  the  Pacific  has  been  that  good  Americans  are  good 
Americans  in  every  part  of  this  country.  That  is  the  funda- 
mental point  to  remember. 

I  am  glad  to  have  seen  you.  I  want  to  welcome  the  men  and 
women,  and  especially  the  children.  Of  course,  it  is  a  mere 
truism  to  say  that  this  country  depends  upon  what  the  next  gen- 
eration is.  (Applause.) 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
WATSON  VI LLE,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  n,  1903 

MY  FELLOW -CITIZENS  : 

I  have  but  a  minute  here,  and  I  can  only  express  to  you  my 
appreciation  of  your  having  come  out  to  greet  me.  This  is  a 
great  fruit  center;  California  is  a  great  fruit  State,  a  great 
agricultural  State,  but,  above  all,  California  is  a  great  State  for 
Californians.  (Applause.) 

The  thing  that  has  impressed  me  most  in  this  country  coming 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  is  the  essential  oneness  of  our 
people,  the  fact  that  good  Americans  are  good  Americans  from 
Maine  to  California,  from  the  Golden  Gate  to  Sandy  Hook 
That  is  the  important  part. 

Glad  though  I  am  to  see  all  your  products,  I  want  to  congrat- 
ulate you  especially  upon  one — the  children.  (Applause.)  I 
do  not  come  here  to  teach;  I  come  hear  to  learn.  It  has  done 
me  good  to  be  in  your  State  and  to  meet  your  people.  Until 
last  week  I  had  never  been  in  California,  and  I  go  back  an  even 
better  American  than  I  came,  and  I  think  I  came  out  a  fairly 
good  one.  Things  that  are  truisms,  that  you  expect  as  simply 
part  of  the  natural  order  of  events,  need  to  be  impressed  upon 
our  people  as  a  whole.  We  need  to  understand  the  commanding 
position  already  occupied,  and  the  infinitely  more  commanding 
position  that  will  be  occupied  in  the  future  by  our  nation  on 
the  Pacific.  This,  the  greatest  of  all  the  oceans,  is  one  which 
more  and  more  during  the  century  opening  must  pass  under 
American  influence;  and  as  inevitably  happens,  when  a  great 
effort  comes,  it  means  that  a  great  burden  of  responsibility  ac- 
companies the  effort.  A  nation  cannot  be  great  without  paying 

[51] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


the  price  of  greatness,  and  only  a  craven  nation  will  object  to 
paying  that  price. 

I  believe  in  you,  my  countrymen;  I  believe  in  our  people,  and 
therefore  I  believe  that  they  will  dare  to  be  great,  therefore  I 
believe  they  will  hail  the  chance  this  century  brings  as  one  which 
it  should  rejoice  a  mighty  and  masterful  people  to  have.  And 
we  can  face  the  future  with  the  assured  confidence  of  success 
if  only  we  face  it  in  the  spirit  in  which  our  fathers  faced  the 
problems  of,  the  past.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[5*1 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS    AT 
SANTA    CRUZ,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  ii,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW- CITIZEN s : 

I  thank  you  for  the  greeting  that  you  have  extended  to  me. 
I  wish  to  say  a  word  of  special  acknowledgment  to  the  men  of 
the  Grand  Army,  to  the  representatives  of  the  pioneers,  to  the 
men  who  proved  their  loyalty  in  the  supreme  test  from  '61  to 
'65,  and  to  the  pioneers  who  showed  the  same  qualities  in  win- 
ning this  great  West  that  you  of  the  Civil  War  showed  in  your 
feat.  I  also  wish  to  say  how  pleased  I  am  to  have  had  as  my 
escort  the  men  of  the  Naval  Militia.  The  one  thing  on  which 
this  country  must  forever  be  a  unit  is  the  navy.  We  must  have 
a  first-class  navy.  A  nation  like  ours,  with  the  unique  position 
of  fronting  at  once  on  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  a  nation 
forced  by  the  mere  fact  of  destiny  to  play  a  great,  a  mighty,  a 
masterful  part  in  the  world,  cannot  afford  to  neglect  its  navy, 
cannot  afford  to  fail  to  insist  upon  the  building  up  of  the  navy. 
We  must  go  on  with  the  task  as  we  have  begun  it.  We  have  a 
good  navy  now.  We  must  make  it  an  even  better  one  in  the 
future.  We  must  have  an  ample  supply  of  the  most  formidable 
type  of  fighting  ships ;  we  must  have  those  ships  practiced ;  we 
must  see  that  not  only  are  our  warships  the  best  in  the  world, 
but  that  the  men  who  handle  them,  the  men  in  the  gun  turrets, 
the  men  in  the  engine  rooms,  the  men  in  the  conning  towers, 
are  also  the  best  of  their  kind.  I  think  that  our  navy  is  already 
wonderfully  good  and  we  must  strive  to  make  it  even  better. 

I  am  about  to  visit  the  grove  of  the  great  trees.  I  wish  to 
congratulate  you  people  of  California,  people  of  this  region,  and 
to  congratulate  all  the  country  on  what  you  have  done  in  pre- 
serving these  great  trees.  Cut  down  one  of  these  giants  and 

[53] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


you  cannot  fill  its  place.  The  ages  were  their  architects  and 
we  owe  it  to  ourselves  and  to  our  children's  children  to  preserve 
them.  Nothing  has  pleased  me  more  here  in  California  than  to 
see  how  thoroughly  awake  you  are  to  preserve  the  monuments 
of  the  past,  human  and  natural.  I  am  glad  to  see  the  way  in 
which  the  old  mission  buildings  are  being  preserved.  This  great, 
wonderful,  new  State,  this  State  which  is  itself  an  empire,  situ- 
ated on  the  greatest  of  oceans,  should  keep  alive  the  sense  of 
historic  continuity  of  its  past,  and  should  as  one  step  towards 
that  end  preserve  the  ancient  historic  landmarks  within  its 
limits.  I  am  even  more  pleased  that  you  should  be  preserving 
the  great  and  wonderful  natural  features  here,  that  you  should 
have  in  California  a  park  like  the  Yosemite,  that  we  should  have 
State  preserves  of  these  great  trees  and  other  preserves  where 
individuals  and  associations  have  kept  them.  We  should  see  to 
it  that  no  man  for  speculative  purposes  or  for  mere  temporary 
use  exploits  the  groves  of  great  trees.  Where  the  individuals 
and  associations  of  individuals  cannot  preserve  them,  the  State, 
and,  if  necessary,  the  nation,  should  step  in  and  see  to  their 
preservation.  We  should  keep  the  trees  as  we  should  keep 
great  stretches  of  the  wildernesses  as  a  heritage  for  our  children 
and  our  children's  children.  Our  aim  should  be  to  preserve  them 
for  use,  to  preserve  them  for  beauty,  for  the  sake  of  the  nation 
hereafter. 

I  shall  not  try  to  make  any  extended  address  to  you.  I  shall 
only  say  how  glad  I  am  to  be  here,  bid  you  welcome  with  all 
my  heart,  and  say  how  thoroughly  I  believe  in  you,  and  that  I 
am  a  better  American  for  being  among  you.  (Great  applause.) 


[54] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT    THE    BIG    TREE    GROVE, 
SANTA    GRUZ,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  n,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  AND  LADIES  FIRST,  AND  TO  THE  REST  OF  THE  GUESTS 
IN  THE  SECOND  PLACE: 

I  want  to  thank  you  very  much  for  your  courtesy  in  receiving 
me,  and  to  say  how  much  I  have  enjoyed  being  here.  This  is 
the  first  glimpse  I  have  ever  had  of  the  big  trees,  and  I  wish  to 
pay  the  highest  tribute  I  can  to  the  State  of  California,  to  those 
private  citizens  and  associations  of  citizens  who  have  co-operated 
with  the  State  in  preserving  these  wonderful  trees  for  the  whole 
nation,  in  preserving  them  in  whatever  part  of  the  State  they 
may  be  found.  All  of  us  ought  to  want  to  see  nature  preserved; 
and  take  a  big  tree  whose  architect  has  been  the  ages,  anything 
that  man  does  toward  it  may  hurt  it  and  cannot  help  it;  and 
above  all,  the  rash  creature  who  wishes  to  leave  his  name  to 
mar  the  beauties  of  nature  should  be  sternly  discouraged.  Take 
those  cards  pinned  up  on  that  tree ;  they  give  an  air  of  the 
ridiculous  to  this  solemn  and  majestic  grove.  (Applause.)  To 
pin  those  cards  up  there  is  as  much  out  of  place  as  if  you  tacked 
so  many  tin  cans  up  there.  I  mean  that  literally.  You  should 
save  the  people  whose  names  are  there  from  the  reprobation  of 
every  individual  by  taking  down  the  cards  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment;  and  do  keep  these  trees,  keep  all  the  wonderful  sce- 
nery of  this  wonderful  State  unmarred  by  the  vandalism  or  the 
folly  of  man.  Remember  that  we  have  to  contend  not  merely 
with  knavery,  but  with  folly;  and  see  to  it  that  you  by  your 
actions  create  the  kind  of  public  opinion  which  will  put  a  stop 
to  any  destruction  of  or  any  marring  of  the  wonderful  and  beau- 
tiful gifts  that  you  have  received  from  nature,  that  you  ought  to 

[55] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 

hand  on  as  a  precious  heritage  to  your  children  and  your  chil- 
dren's children.  I  am,  oh,  so  glad  to  be  here,  to  be  in  this  majestic 
and  beautiful  grove,  to  see  the  wonderful  redwoods,  and  I  thank 
you  for  giving  me  the  chance,  and  I  do  hope  that  it  will  be  your 
object  to  preserve  them  as  nature  made  them  and  left  them,  for 
the  future.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[56] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS    AT 
SAN    JOSE,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  ii,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  AND  You,  MEN  AND  WOMEN,  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS, 
MY  FELLOW-AMERICANS: 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  greet  you  today,  to  speak  to  the  citizens 
of  this  beautiful  city  in  this  great  and  fertile  valley  and  county. 
Ever  since  our  train  came  into  the  Santa  Clara  Valley  it  has 
been  as  though  we  were  passing  through  a  garden.  (Applause.) 
I  do  not  wonder  at  the  products,  now  that  I  have  seen  the  place. 
This  is  one  of  the  famous  agricultural  counties  of  the  whole 
country.  In  hardly  any  other  county  has  work  quite  of  your 
kind  been  done  in  the  raising  of  deciduous  fruits,  notably  prunes. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  Your  city  is  bound  to  grow  because 
your  county  is  bound  to  grow,  and  of  course  the  city  will  grow 
where  the  country  tributary  to  it  produces  so  much.  But  there 
was  something  that  pleased  me  even  more  than  the  prunes,  and 
that  was  the  school  houses  as  I  passed.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

Here  in  this  county  you  have  many  notable  educational  insti- 
tutions. I  understand  that  you  have  the  oldest  normal  school  in 
the  State;  that  Santa  Clara  is  the  oldest  college;  you  also  have 
the  University  of  the  Pacific,  the  Lick  Observatory  and  Leland 
Stanford  LTniversity;  and  above  all,  that  upon  which  all  the 
higher  education  rests — the  common  school  educational  system 
of  the  State.  It  is  a  fine  thing,  an  absolutely  necessary  thing,  to 
have  a  foundation  of  material  well-being  upon  which  to  build 
the  higher  life;  but  it  is  equally  indispensable  that  upon  that 
foundation  the  higher  life  shall  be  built.  I  congratulate  you 
that  in  your  care  for  the  body  you  have  not  forgotten  to  care 
for  the  higher,  the  intellectual,  the  spiritual  side  of  man.  I  have 
been  greeted  here  as  I  have  been  greeted  throughout  California 

[57] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


by  the  men  of  the  great  Civil  War,  the  veterans  to  whom  we 
owe  it  to  that  there  is  a  country  for  you  and  me  to  be  proud  of 
today.  They,  by  their  lives,  by  the  record  of  their  deeds,  teach  us 
in  more  practical  fashion  than  it  can  be  taught  by  any  preach- 
ing, for  they  teach  us  by  practice,  that  in  the  ultimate  analysis 
the  greatness  of  a  nation  is  to  be  measured  not  by  the  output  of 
its  industrial  products,  not  by  its  material  prosperity,  not  by 
the  products  of  the  farm,  factory,  business  house,  but  by  the 
products  of  its  citizenship,  by  the  men  and  women  that  that 
nation  produces.  (Applause.) 

When  Sumter's  guns  thundered  on  that  April  morning  in  '61 
no  amount  of  industrial  prosperity  unaccompanied  by  the  lift 
toward  higher  things  could  have  saved  the  nation.  We  had  then 
come  to  one  of  those  great  crises  of  national  affairs  when  the 
need  was  for  the  elemental  virtues  of  mankind  to  be  displayed, 
when  it  was  too  late  to  appeal  to  mechanical  ingenuity,  mechan- 
ical inventiveness,  business  capacity  on  the  greater  or  on  the 
lesser  scale,  when  nothing  could  save  us  but  the  manhood  of  the 
men  and  the  womanhood  of  the  women,  when  we  had  to  rely 
upon  the  man  who  went  to  battle  and  upon  the  woman  to  whom 
fell  the  harder  task  of  staying  at  home,  with  brother  or  lover, 
father  or  husband  gone  to  the  front,  left  without  the  bread- 
winner, to  work  her  way  as  best  she  could,  and  to  endure,  in 
addition,  the  sickening  anxiety  for  the  loved  ones  who  were  in 
the  forefront  of  the  battle.  We  had  to  depend  upon  the  men 
who,  when  the  final  call  was  made,  were  willing  to  count  every- 
thing, life  itself,  as  dross  in  the  scale  compared  with  their  eager 
championship  of  national  honor,  of  the  unity  of  the  flag,  the 
sacredness  of  the  republic — the  men  whose  one  ambition  it  was 
to  spend  and  be  spent  when  Abraham  Lincoln  called,  and  to 
follow  the  flag  of  Grant,  of  Sherman,  of  Thomas,  of  Sheridan  and 
Farragut  through  the  years  of  alternating  victory  and  defeat 
until  over  the  hills  of  disaster  they  saw  the  sunset  of  triumph  at 
Appomattox.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 

The  problems  that  confront  us  from  generation  to  generation 

[58] 


o 


H 
ffi 
M 

n 

to 
O 


O 

o 

PO 


H 

ffi 


8 
n 

c 
S 


R  A 
or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


change.  The  methods  of  solution  for  each  problem  must  be 
sought  out  carefully  in  order  that  that  problem  may  be  solved 
aright;  but  the  fundamental  qualities  needed  by  the  men  of 
today  are  those  that  were  needed  by  the  men  of  yesterday,  and 
they  will  be  the  same  that  in  their  turn  the  men  of  tomorrow 
will  need.  There  is  no  patent  substitute  for  the  fundamental 
virtues.  Nothing  can  make  good  citizenship  in  men  who  have 
not  got  in  them  courage,  hardihood,  decency,  sanity,  the  spirit 
of  truth-telling  and  truth-seeking,  the  spirit  that  dares  and  en- 
dures, the  spirit  that  knows  what  it  is  to  have  a  lofty  ideal,  and 
yet  to  endeavor  to  realize  that  ideal  in  practical  fashion.  (Ap- 
plause.) That  is  why  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  care  you  are 
paying  to  your  educational  system,  to  the  training  of  the  young. 
Of  course  there  are  natures  which  no  training  can  develop,  be- 
cause if  the  stuff  is  not  there  nothing  can  be  made  out  of  them. 
But  training  will  make  a  good  citizen  a  better  citizen.  Training 
when  applied  to  raw  material  will  do  good  to  that  raw  material. 
I  congratulate  you,  I  congratulate  all  our  people,  upon  the 
realization  shown  by  California  of  the  fact  that  though  the 
interests  of  the  body  are  great,  the  interests  of  the  soul  are 
greater;  that  though  we  must  take  care  of  the  first — we  are  not 
to  be  excused  if  we  fail  to  show  thrift,  energy,  business  intelli- 
gence, the  power  of  hard  work  for  material  ends — we  are  not 
to  be  excused  if  we  fail  to  show  those  qualities,  yet  that  those 
qualities  cannot  by  themselves  suffice,  that  to  them  we  must  add 
others.  The  body  should  be  trained;  even  more  should  the  mind 
be  trained;  and  most  of  all  should  we  train  character;  character, 
into  which  so  many  elements  enter;  but  three  above  all — de- 
cency, the  spirit  of  fair  dealing,  of  decent  behavior  in  the  family, 
in  the  neighborhood,  towards  the  State;  and  to  decency  to  be 
added  courage,  the  spirit  that  dares  and  endures  and  does  and  to 
both  to  be  added  the  saving  grace  of  common  sense.  I  congrat- 
ulate you  upon  your  thought  for  the  next  generation,  for  Cali- 
fornia's greatness.  The  greatness  of  the  Union  in  the  future  will 
depend  upon  the  kind  of  men  and  women  who  act  as  your  heirs. 

[59] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


If  they  are  not  the  right  kind  they  will  mar  and  spoil  the  heritage 
you  have  left;  and  that  heritage  can  be  kept  as  it  should  and  will 
be  kept,  because  the  boys  and  girls  of  today  are  being  trained  to 
become  fit  citizens  of  tomorrow. 

In  closing  I  want  to  thank  you  and  to  say  how  I  have  enjoyed 
being  here  in  California.  Above  all  things,  I  have  enjoyed  the 
knowledge  that  coming  across  this  continent  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  from  the  East  to  the  West,  and  now  west  of 
the  West  into  California — for  California  stands  by  itself  (ap- 
plause)— wherever  I  have  been  addressing  any  audience  I  have 
been  able  to  make  my  appeal  to  the  men  and  women  to  whom  I 
speak  purely  as  Americans  speaking  to  them  as  Americans,  and 
as  nothing  else.  (Applause.)  You,  the  men  of  the  great  war, 
fought  to  put  an  end  once  for  all  to  the  evil  spirit  of  sectional 
hatred.  No  man  is  a  good  American — I  could  put  that  stronger 
— the  worst  enemy  of  American  institutions  is  the  man  who  seeks 
to  excite  one  set  of  Americans  against  their  fellow-Americans. 
(Cheers  and  applause.)  And  it  matters  nothing  whether  the 
appeal  is  made  in  the  fancied  interest  of  a  class,  of  a  creed,  or 
of  a  section,  the  man  is  a  traitor  to  our  institutions  and  spirit 
who  makes  it.  We  can  make  this  government  a  success  only  by 
proceeding  in  accordance  with  its  fundamental  proposition  and 
treating  each  man,  Northerner  or  Southerner,  Easterner  or  West- 
erner, whatever  his  birthplace,  whatever  his  creed,  his  occupa- 
tion, his  means,  as  a  man  and  as  nothing  else.  (Applause.)  I 
believe  in  you,  I  believe  in  the  future  of  this  State,  I  believe  in 
the  future  of  this  nation,  because  I  am  sure  that  ultimately,  no 
matter  what  may  be  any  temporary  swerving,  our  people  will 
consent  to  no  other  base  for  the  management  of  this  government, 
and  will  insist  invariably  in  the  long  run  that  we  remain  true  to 
the  principles  of  those  who  with  Washington  founded  the  gov- 
ernment, and  those  who  with  Lincoln  preserved  the  government 
and  made  this  a  nation  of  freemen,  each  guaranteed  his  rights, 

[60] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


each  prevented  from  wronging  any  one  else  and  each  assured  of 
his  being  treated  exactly  as  his  conduct  entitles  him  to  be  treated. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 


[*«] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
CAMPBELL,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  ii,  1903 

It  is  a  very  great  pleasure  to  be  here.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to 
take  part  in  planting  this  tree  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of 
Campbell  Cpunty.  I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  bids  better 
for  our  material  well-being  than  the  tree  culture;  and  I  know 
of  nothing  among  the  many  things  that  the  National  Grange  has 
done  that  it  has  done  better  than  fostering  the  habit  of  caring 
for  the  forests  where  they  exist,  and  the  planting  of  new  trees. 
And  then  even  above  trees  come  the  children,  that  is  the  all- 
important  part.  It  is  a  peculiar  pleasure  to  me  to  address  the 
children.  I  have  but  just  one  word  to  say  to  you;  it  is  some- 
thing I  should  say  to  your  elders  also.  I  believe  in  play  and  I 
believe  in  work.  I  want  to  see  you  play  hard  while  you  play, 
and  when  you  work  do  not  play  at  all.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[62] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS     AT 

LELAND    STANFORD    JR.     UNIVERSITY, 
PALO     ALTO,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  iz,  1903 

PRESIDENT  JORDAN,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW- CITIZENS,  AND  ESPE- 
CIALLY You,  MY  FELLOW-COLLEGE  MEN  AND  WOMEN  : 

I  thank  you  for  your  greeting,  and  I  know  you  will  not  grudge 
my  saying,  first  of  all,  a  special  word  of  thanks  to  the  men  of 
the  Grand  Army.  It  is  a  fine  thing  to  have  before  a  body  of 
students  men  who  by  their  practice  have  rendered  it  unnecessary 
that  they  should  preach  (applause)  ;  for  what  we  have  to  teach 
by  precept,  you,  the  men  of  '61  to  '65,  have  taught  by  deed,  by 
action.  I  am  glad,  I  am  proud  as  an  American  college  man 
myself  to  have  seen  the  tablet  outside  within  the  court  which 
shows  that  this  young  university  sent  eighty -five  of  her  sons  to 
war  when  the  country  called  for  them.  (Applause.)  I  came 
from  a  college  which  boasts  as  its  proudest  building  that  which 
is  to  stand  to  the  memory  of  Harvard's  sons  who  responded 
to  the  call  of  Lincoln  when  the  hour  of  the  nation's  danger  was 
at  hand.  It  will  be  a  bad  day  for  this  country  and  a  worse  day 
for  all  educative  institutions  in  this  country  if  ever  such  a  call 
is  made,  and  the  men  of  college  training  do  not  feel  it  peculiarly 
incumbent  upon  them  to  respond.  (Applause.) 

The  last  week  I  have  thoroughly  enjoyed,  and  my  enjoyment 
would  have  been  unmarred  by  a  flaw  if  I  had  not  been  obliged 
to  make  speeches.  I  have  been  traveling  through  California.  It 
is  the  first  time  I  have  ever  come  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  my 
visit  to  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  State  has  been  to  me  one  of 
absorbing  interest.  I  cannot  say  how  I  have  appreciated  being 
here;  the  chance  to  see  the  natural  products,  the  scenery,  the 
landscape,  all  that  man  has  done  with  the  soil,  how  he  has 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


taken  advantage  of  the  climate,  what  he  has  done  materially  and 
socially,  what  he  has  done  in  building  upon  the  material  well- 
being  which  he  has  secured  from  soil  and  Uimate  the  higher 
life  of  the  intellect,  the  spirit  and  the  soul.  Now  I  have  come  to 
this  great  institution  of  learning  and  I  wonder  whether  you 
yourselves  fully  appreciate  the  mere  physical  beauty  of  your 
surroundings.  I  was  not  prepared  in  the  least  (and  I  thought  I 
was  prepared  for  it)  for  the  beauty  of  your  surroundings.  You 
have  had  these  plans  of  your  university  made  by  a  great  archi- 
tect, native  to  our  own  American  soil,  who  himself  had  the  sense 
to  adapt — not  to  copy  in  servile  fashion — but  to  adapt  the  old 
Californian  architecture  to  the  new  university  uses,  and  so  we 
have  here  a  great  institution  of  learning  absolutely  unique,  even 
in  its  outward  aspect,  situated  in  this  beautiful  valley  with  the 
hills  in  the  background,  under  this  sky,  with  these  buildings,  and 
if  this  university  does  not  turn  out  the  right  kind  of  citizenship 
and  the  right  kind  of  scholarship,  I  shall  be  more  than  disap- 
pointed. (Applause.) 

I  want  to  say  one  word  personally.  President  Jordan  has  been 
kind  enough  to  allude  to  me  as  an  old  friend.  Mr.  Jordan  is  too 
modest  to  say  that  he  has  long  been  not  only  a  friend,  but  a 
man  to  whom  I  have  turned  for  advice  and  help,  before  and 
since  I  became  President.  (Applause.)  I  am  glad  to  have  the 
chance  of  acknowledging  my  obligations  to  him,  and  I  am  also 
glad  that  when  I  ask  you  to  strive  toward  productive  scholarship, 
toward  productive  citizenship,  I  can  use  the  president  of  the 
university  as  an  example.  Of  course,  in  any  of  our  American 
institutions  of  learning,  even  more  important  than  the  production 
of  scholarship,  is  the  production  of  citizenship.  That  is  the  most 
important  thing  that  any  institution  of  learning  can  produce. 
There  is  a  great  proportion,  a  great  number  of  students  who 
cannot  and  should  not  try,  in  after  life,  to  lead  a  career  of 
scholarship,  but  no  university  can  take  high  rank  if  it  does  not 
aim  at  the  production  of,  and  succeed  in  producing,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  deep  and  thorough  scholars.  Not  scholars  whose  scholar- 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ship  is  of  the  barren  kind,  but  men  of  productive  scholarship, 
men  who  do  good  work,  I  trust  great  work,  in  the  fields  of  lit- 
erature, of  art,  of  science,  in  all  their  manifold  activities.  Here 
in  California  this  nation,  composite  in  its  race  stocks,  speaking 
an  Old  World  tongue,  and  with  an  inherited  Old  World  culture, 
has  acquired  an  absolutely  new  domain.  I  do  not  mean  new 
only  in  the  sense  of  additional  territory  like  that  already 
possessed,  I  mean  new  in  the  sense  of  new  surroundings,  to  use 
the  scientific  phrase,  of  a  new  environment.  Being  new,  I  think 
we  have  a  right  to  look  for  a  substantial  achievement  on  the 
part  of  your  people  along  new  lines.  I  do  not  mean  the  self- 
conscious  striving  after  newness,  which  is  only  too  apt  to  breed 
eccentricity,  but  I  mean  that  those  among  you  whose  bent  is 
toward  scholarship  as  a  career,  if  those  will  keep  in  mind  the 
fact  that  such  scholarship  should  be  productive,  and  should 
therefore  aim  at  giving  to  the  world  some  addition  to  the  world's 
stock  of  what  is  useful  or  beautiful,  and  if  you  work  simply  and 
naturally,  taking  advantage  of  your  surroundings  as  you  find 
them,  then  in  my  belief  a  new  mark  will  be  made  in  the  history 
of  the  intellectual  achievement  by  our  people,  by  our  race.  You 
of  this  institution  are  blessed  in  its  extraordinary  physical  beauty 
and  appropriateness  of  architecture  and  surroundings,  with  its 
suggestion  of  what  I  might  call  the  Americanized  Greek.  Such 
is  your  institution,  situated  on  the  shores  of  this  great  ocean, 
built  by  a  race  which  has  come  steadily  westward,  which  has 
come  to  where  the  Occident  looks  west  to  the  Orient,  a  race 
whose  members  here,  fresh,  vigorous,  with  the  boundless  possi- 
bilities of  the  future  brought  to  their  very  doors  in  a  sense  that 
cannot  be  possible  for  the  members  of  the  race  situated  farther 
east — surely  there  will  be  some  great  outcome  in  the  way  not 
merely  of  physical,  but  of  moral  and  intellectual  work  worth 
doing.  I  should  think  but  ill  of  you  if  you  developed  along  the 
lines  of  the  prig,  and  if  what  I  have  read  about  California  is 
true,  if  the  present  proper  desire  for  athletic  sports  continues  to 
develop,  you  are  saved  from  that  danger.  (Applause.)  I  do 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


not  want  you  to  turn  out  prigs;  I  do  not  want  you  to  turn  out 
the  self-conscious.  I  believe,  with  all  my  heart,  in  play.  I  want 
you  to  play  hard  without  encroaching  on  your  work.  I  do, 
nevertheless,  think  you  ought  to  have  at  least  the  consciousness 
of  the  serious  side  of  what  all  this  means,  and  of  the  necessity 
of  effort,  thrust  upon  you,  so  that  you  may  justify  by  your  deeds 
in  the  future  your  training  and  the  extraordinary  advantages 
under  which  that  training  has  been  obtained. 

America,  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  is  of  course  in  a 
peculiar  sense  typical  of  the  present  age.  We  represent  the 
fullest  development  of  the  democratic  spirit  joined  to  the  ex- 
traordinary and  highly  complex  industrial  growth  of  the  last 
half  century.  It  behooves  us  to  justify  by  our  acts  the  claims  made 
for  that  political  and  economic  progress.  We  will  never  justify 
the  existence  of  the  republic  by  merely  talking  about  what  the 
republic  has  done  each  Fourth  of  July.  If  our  homage  is  lip 
loyalty  merely  the  great  deeds  of  those  who  went  before  us,  the 
great  deeds  of  the  times  of  Washington  and  of  the  times  of 
Lincoln,  the  great  deeds  of  the  men  who  won  the  Revolution 
and  founded  the  nation,  and  of  the  men  who  preserved  it,  who 
made  it  a  Union  and  a  free  republic — these  great  deeds  will 
simply  arise  to  shame  us.  We  can  honor  our  fathers  and  our 
fathers'  fathers  only  by  ourselves  striving  to  rise  level  to  their 
standard.  There  are  plenty  of  tendencies  for  evil  in  what  we ; 
see  round  about  us.  Thank  heaven,  there  are  an  even  greater 
number  of  tendencies  for  good,  and  one  of  the  things,  Mr.  Jor- 
dan, which  it  seems  to  me  gives  this  nation  cause  for  hope  is  the 
national  standard  of  ambition  which  makes  it  possible  to  recog- 
nize with  admiration  and  regard  such  work  as  the  founding  of 
a  university  of  this  character.  It  speaks  well  for  our  nation  that 
men  and  women  should  desire  during  their  lives  to  devote  the 
fortunes  which  they  were  able  to  acquire  or  to  inherit  because 
of  our  system  of  government,  because  of  our  social  system,  to  ; 
objects  so  entirely  worthy  and  so  entirely  admirable  as  the ; 
foundation  of  a  great  seat  of  learning  such  as  this.  (Applause.) 

[66] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


All  that  we  outsiders  can  do  is  to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  dead  and  to  the  living  who  have  done  such  good,  and  at 
least  to  make  it  evident  that  we  appreciate  to  the  full  what  has 
been  done. 

I  have  spoken  of  scholarship ;  I  want  to  go  back  to  the  question 
of  citizenship,  the  question  affecting  not  merely  the  scholars 
among  you,  not  merely  those  who  are  hereafter  to  lead  lives 
devoted  to  science,  to  art,  to  productivity  in  literature.  And  just 
let  me  say  one  word — when  you  take  up  science,  art  and  litera- 
ture, remember  that  one  first-class  bit  of  work  is  better  than 
one  thousand  fairly  good  bits  of  work  (applause)  ;  that  as  the 
years  roll  on  the  man  or  the  woman  who  has  been  able  to  make  a 
masterpiece  with  the  pen,  the  brush,  the  pencil,  in  any  way,  that 
that  man,  that  woman,  has  rendered  a  service  to  the  country 
such  as  not  all  his  or  her  compeers  who  merely  do  fairly  good 
second-rate  work  can  ever  accomplish.  But  only  a  limited  num- 
ber of  you,  only  a  limited  number  of  us,  can  ever  become  scholars 
or  work  successfully  along  the  lines  I  have  spoken  of,  but  we 
can  all  be  good  citizens.  We  can  all  lead  a  life  of  action,  a  life 
of  endeavor,  a  life  that  is  to  be  judged  primarily  by  the  effort, 
somewhat  by  the  result,  along  the  lines  of  helping  the  growth  of 
what  is  right  and  decent  and  generous  and  lofty  in  our  several 
communities,  in  the  State,  in  the  nation. 

And  you,  men  and  women,  who  have  had  the  advantages  of  a 
college  training  are  not  to  be  excused  if  you  fail  to  do  not  as 
well  as,  but  if  you  fail  to  do  more  than  the  average  man  outside 
who  has  not  had  your  advantages.  (Applause.)  Every  now 
and  then  I  meet  (at  least  I  meet  him  in  the  East,  and  I  dare  say 
he  is  to  be  found  here)  the  man  who,  having  gone  through 
college,  feels  that  somehow  that  confers  upon  him  a  special 
distinction  which  relieves  him  from  the  necessity  of  showing 
himself  as  good  as  his  fellows.  (Applause.)  I  see  you  recog- 
nize the  type.  That  man  is  not  only  a  curse  to  the  community, 
and  incidentally  to  himself,  but  he  is  a  curse  to  the  cause  of 
academic  education,  the  college  and  university  training,  because 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


by  his  existence  he  serves  as  an  excuse  for  those  who  would  like 
to  denounce  such  education.  Your  education,  your  training,  will 
not  confer  on  you  one  privilege  in  the  way  of  excusing  you  from 
effort  or  from  work.  All  it  can  do,  and  what  it  should  do,  is  to 
make  you  a  little  better  fitted  for  such  effort,  for  such  work; 
and  I  do  not  care  whether  that  is  in  business,  politics,  in  no  mat- 
ter what  branch  of  endeavor,  all  it  can  do  is  by  the  training  you 
have  received,  by  the  advantages  you  have  received,  to  fit  you 
to  do  a  little  better  than  the  average  man  that  you  meet.  It  is  in- 
cumbent upon  you  to  show  that  the  training  has  had  that  effect. 
It  ought  to  enable  you  to  do  a  little  better  for  yourselves,  and 
if  you  have  in  you  souls  capable  of  a  thrill  of  generous  emotion, 
souls  capable  of  understanding  what  you  owe  to  your  training, 
to  your  alma  mater,  to  the  past  and  the  present  that  have  given 
you  all  that  you  have — if  you  have  such  souls,  it  ought  to  make 
you  doubly  bent  upon  disinteresl-d  work  for  the  State  and  the 
nation.  (Applause.)  Such  work  can  be  done  along  many  differ- 
ent lines. 

I  want  today,  here  in  California,  to  make  a  special  appeal  to 
all  of  you,  and  to  California  as  a  whole,  for  work  along  a  certain 
line — the  line  of  preserving  your  great  natural  advantages  alike 
from  the  standpoint  of  use  and  from  the  standpoint  of  beauty. 
If  the  students  of  this  institution  have  not  by  the  mere  fact  of 
their  surroundings  learned  to  appreciate  beauty,  then  the  fault 
is  in  you  and  not  in  the  surroundings.  Here  in  California  you 
have  some  of  the  great  wonders  of  the  world.  You  have  a  singu- 
larly beautiful  landscape,  singularly  beautiful  and  singularly  ma- 
jestic scenery,  and  it  should  certainly  be  your  aim  to  try  to  pre- 
serve for  those  who  are  to  come  after  you  that  beauty;  to  try 
to  keep  unmarred  that  majesty.  Closely  entwined  with  keeping 
unmarred  the  beauty  of  your  scenery,  of  your  great  natural  at- 
tractions, is  the  question  of  making  use  of,  not  for  the  moment 
merely,  but  for  future  time,  of  your  great  natural  products.  Yes- 
terday I  saw  for  the  first  time  a  grove  of  your  great  trees,  a 
grove  which  it  has  taken  the  ages  several  thousands  of  years  to 

[68] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


build  up ;  and  I  feel  most  emphatically  that  we  should  not  turn 
a  tree  which  was  old  when  the  first  Egyptian  conqueror  pene- 
trated to  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  which  it  has  taken  so  many 
thousands  of  years  to  build  up,  and  which  can  be  put  to  better 
use,  into  shingles.  (Applause.)  That,  you  may  say,  is  not  look- 
ing at  the  matter  from  the  practical  standpoint.  There  is  nothing 
more  practical  in  the  end  than  the  preservation  of  beauty,  than 
the  preservation  of  anything  that  appeals  to  the  higher  emotions 
in  mankind.  But,  furthermore,  I  appeal  to  you  from  the  stand- 
point of  use.  A  few  big  trees,  of  unusual  size  and  beauty,  should 
be  preserved  for  their  own  sake;  but  the  forests  as  a  whole 
should  be  used  for  business  purposes,  only  they  should  be  used 
in  a  way  that  will  preserve  them  as  permanent  sources  of  national 
wealth.  In  many  parts  of  California  the  whole  future  welfare 
of  the  State  depends  upon  the  way  in  which  you  are  able  to  use 
your  water  supply;  and  the  preservation  of  the  forests  and  the 
preservation  of  the  use  of  the  water  are  inseparably  connected. 
I  believe  we  are  past  the  stage  of  national  existence  when  we 
could  look  on  complacently  at  the  individual  who  skinned  the 
land  and  was  perfectly  content  for  the  sake  of  three  years'  profit 
for  himself  to  leave  a  desert  for  the  children  of  those  who  were 
to  inherit  the  soil.  I  think  we  have  passed  that  stage.  We  should 
handle,  and  I  think  we  now  do  handle,  all  problems  such  as 
those  of  forestry  and  of  the  preservation  and  use  of  our  waters 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  permanent  interests  of  the  home- 
maker  in  any  region — the  man  who  comes  in  not  to  take  what  he 
can  out  of  the  soil  and  leave,  having  exploited  the  country,  but 
who  comes  to  dwell  therein,  to  bring  up  his  children,  and  to 
leave  them  the  heritage  in  the  country  not  merely  unimpaired, 
but  if  possible  even  improved.  That  is  the  sensible  view  of 
civic  obligation,  and  the  policy  of  the  State  and  of  the  nation 
should  be  shaped  in  that  direction.  It  should  be  shaped  in  the 
interest  of  the  home-maker,  the  actual  resident,  the  man  who  is 
not  only  to  be  benefited  himself,  but  whose  children  and  children's 
children  are  to  be  benefited  by  what  he  has  done.  California  has 

[69] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


for  years,  I  am  happy  to  say,  taken  a  more  sensible,  a  more  in- 
telligent interest  in  forest  preservation  than  any  other  State.  It 
early  appointed  a  forest  commission,  later  on  some  of  the  func- 
tions of  that  commission  were  replaced  by  the  Sierra  Club,  a  club 
which  has  done  much  on  the  Pacific  Coast  to  perpetuate  the  spirit 
of  the  explorer  and  the  pioneer.  Then  I  am  happy  to  say  a  great 
business  interest  showed  an  intelligent  and  farsighted  spirit  which 
is  of  happy  augury,  for  the  Redwood  Manufacturers  of  San 
Francisco  were  first  among  lumbermen's  associations  to  give  as- 
sistance to  the  cause  of  practical  forestry.  The  study  of  the  red- 
wood which  the  action  of  this  association  made  possible  was  the 
pioneer  study  in  the  co-operative  work  which  is  now  being  car- 
ried out  between  lumbermen  all  over  the  United  States  and  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Forestry.  All  of  this  kind  of  work  is  pecu- 
liarly the  kind  of  work  in  which  we  have  a  right  to  expect  not 
merely  hearty  co-operation  from,  but  leadership  in  college  men 
trained  in  the  universities  of  this  Pacific  Coast  State  (applause)  ; 
for  the  forests  of  this  State  stand  alone  in  the  world.  There  are 
none  others  like  them  anywhere.  There  are  no  other  trees  any- 
where like  the  giant  Sequoias;  nowhere  else  is  there  a  more 
beautiful  forest  than  that  which  clothes  the  western  slope  of  the 
Sierra.  Very  early  your  forests  attracted  lumbermen  from  other 
States,  and  by  the  course  of  timber  land  investments  some  of  the 
best  of  the  big  tree  groves  were  threatened  with  destruction.  I 
am  sorry  to  say  destruction  came  upon  some  of  them,  but  I  am 
happy  to  say  that  the  women  of  California  rose  to  the  emergency 
through  the  California  Club,  and  later  the  Sempervirens  Club 
took  vigorous  action,  but  the  Calaveras  grove  is  not  yet  safe, 
and  there  should  be  no  rest  until  that  safety  is  secured,  by  the 
action  of  private  individuals,  by  the  action  of  the  State,  by  the 
action  of  the  nation.  The  interest  of  California  in  forest  pro- 
tection was  shown  even  more  effectively  by  the  purchase  of  the 
Big  Basin  Redwood  Park,  a  superb  forest  property  the  possession 
of  which  should  be  a  source  of  just  pride  to  all  citizens  jealous  of 
California's  good  name. 

[70] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


I  appeal  to  you,  as  I  say,  to  protect  these  mighty  trees,  these 
wonderful  monuments  of  beauty.  I  appeal  to  you  to  protect  them 
for  the  sake  of  their  beauty,  but  I  also  make  the  appeal  just  as 
strongly  on  economic  grounds;  as  I  am  well  aware  that  in  deal- 
ing with  such  questions  a  farsighted  economic  policy  must  be 
that  to  which  alone  in  the  long  run  one  can  safely  appeal.  The 
interests  of  California  in  forests  depend  directly  of  course  upon 
the  handling  of  her  wood  and  water  supplies  and  the  supply  of 
material  from  the  lumber  woods  and  the  production  of  agricul- 
tural products  on  irrigated  farms.  The  great  valleys  which 
stretch  through  the  State  between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the 
Coast  Ranges  must  owe  their  future  development  as  they  owe 
their  present  prosperity  to  irrigation.  Whatever  tends  to  destroy 
the  water  supply  of  the  Sacramento,  the  San  Gabriel,  and  the 
other  valleys  strikes  vitally  at  the  welfare  of  California.  The 
welfare  of  California  depends  in  no  small  measure  upon  the  pres- 
ervation of  water  for  the  purposes  of  irrigation  in  those  beauti- 
ful and  fertile  valleys  which  cannot  grow  crops  by  rainfall  alone. 
The  forest  cover  upon  the  drainage  basins  of  streams  used  for 
irrigation  purposes  is  of  prime  importance  to  the  interests  of  the 
entire  State.  Now  keep  in  mind  that  the  whole  object  of  forest 
protection  is  as  I  have  said  again  and  again  the  making  and  main- 
taining of  prosperous  homes.  I  am  not  advocating  forest  pro- 
tection from  the  aesthetic  standpoint  only.  I  do  advocate  the 
keeping  of  big  trees,  the  great  monarchs  of  the  woods,  for  the 
sake  of  their  beauty,  but  I  advocate  the  preservation  and  wise  use 
of  the  forests  because  I  feel  it  essential  to  the  interests  of  the 
actual  settlers.  I  am  asking  that  the  forests  be  used  wisely  for  the 
sake  of  the  successors  of  the  pioneers,  for  the  sake  of  the  settlers 
who  dwell  on  the  land  and  by  doing  so  extend  the  borders  of  our 
civilization.  I  ask  it  for  the  sake  of  the  man  who  makes  his  farm 
in  the  woods,  or  lower  down  along  the  side  of  the  streams  which 
have  their  rise  in  the  mountain?.  Every  phase  of  the  land  policy 
of  the  United  States  is,  as  it  by  right  ought  to  be,  directed  to  the 
upbuilding  of  the  home  maker.  The  one  sure  test  of  all  public 

[71] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


land  legislation  should  be ;  does  it  help  to  make  and  to  keep  pros- 
perous homes  ?  It  it  does,  the  legislation  is  good.  If  it  does  not, 
the  legislation  is  bad.  Any  legislation  which  has  a  tendency  to 
give  land  in  large  tracts  to  people  who  will  lease  it  out  to  tenants 
is  undesirable.  We  do  not  want  to  ever  let  our  land  policy  be 
shaped  so  as  to  create  a  big  class  of  proprietors  who  rent  to 
others.  We  want  to  make  the  smaller  man  who,  under  such  con- 
ditions would  rent — we  want  to  make  them  actual  proprietors. 
We  must  shape  our  policy  so  that  these  men  themselves  shall  be 
the  land  owners,  the  makers  of  homes,  the  keepers  of  homes. 

Certain  of  our  land  laws,  however  beneficent  their  purposes, 
have  been  twisted  into  an  improper  use,  so  that  there  have  grown 
up  abuses  under  them  by  which  they  tend  to  create  a  class  of  men 
who,  under  one  color  and  another,  obtain  large  tracts  of  soil  for 
speculative  purposes,  or  to  rent  out  to  others;  and  there  should 
be  now  a  thorough  scrutiny  of  our  land  laws  with  the  object  of 
so  amending  them  as  to  do  away  with  the  possibility  of  such 
abuses.  If  it  was  not  for  the  national  irrigation  act  we  would  be 
about  past  the  time  when  Uncle  Sam  could  give  every  man  a 
farm.  Comparatively  little  of  our  land  is  left  which  is  adapted 
to  farming  without  irrigation.  The  home  maker  on  the  public 
land  must  hereafter,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  have  water 
for  irrigation,  or  the  making  of  his  home  will  fail.  Let  us  keep 
that  fact  before  our  mind.  Do  not  misunderstand  me  when  I 
have  spoken  of  the  defects  of  our  land  laws.  Our  land  laws  have 
served  a  noble  purpose  in  the  past  and  have  become  the  models 
for  other  governments.  The  homestead  law  has  been  a  notable 
instrument  for  good.  To  establish  a  family  permanently  upon 
a  quarter  section  of  land,  or  of  course  upon  a  less  quantity  if  it 
is  irrigated  land,  is  the  best  use  to  which  it  can  be  put.  The 
first  need  of  any  nation  is  intelligent  and  honest  citizens.  Such 
can  come  only  from  honest  and  intelligent  homes,  and  to  get 
the  good  citizenship  we  must  get  the  good  homes.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  the  remainder  of  our  public  land  should  be  re- 
served for  the  home  maker,  and  it  is  necessary  in  my  judgment 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


that  there  should  be  a  revision  of  the  land  laws  and  a  cutting 
out  of  such  provisions  from  them  as  in  actual  practice  under  pres- 
ent conditions  tend  to  make  possible  the  acquisition  of  large 
tracts  for  speculative  purposes  or  for  the  purpose  of  leasing  to 
others. 

I  have  said  that  good  laws  alone  will  not  secure  good  adminis- 
tration. Citizenship  is  the  prime  test  in  the  welfare  of  the  nation ; 
but  we  need  good  laws;  and  above  all  we  need  good  land  laws 
throughout  the  West.  We  want  to  see  the  free  farmer  own  his 
own  home.  The  best  of  the  public  lands  are  already  in  private 
hands,  and  yet  the  rate  of  their  disposal  is  steadily  increasing. 
More  than  six  million  acres  were  patented  during  the  first  three 
months  of  the  present  year.  It  is  time  for  us  to  see  that  our  re- 
maining public  lands  are  saved  for  the  home  maker  to  the  utmost 
limit  of  his  possible  use.  I  say  this  to  you  of  this  university  be- 
cause we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  the  best  trained,  the  best 
educated  men  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
great  plains  States  will  take  the  lead  in  the  preservation  and 
right  use  of  the  forests,  in  securing  the  right  use  of  the  waters, 
and  of  seeing  to  it  that  our  land  policy  is  not  twisted  from  its 
original  purpose,  but  is  perpetuated  by  amendment,  by  change 
when  such  change  is  necessary  in  the  line  of  that  purpose,  the 
purpose  being  to  turn  the  public  domain  into  farms  each  to  be 
the  property  of  the  man  who  actually  tills  it  and  makes  his  home 
on  it.  (Applause.) 

Infinite  are  the  possibilities  for  usefulness  that  lie  before  such 
a  body  as  that  I  am  addressing.  Work!  of  course  you  will  have 
to  work.  I  should  be  sorry  for  you  if  you  did  not  have  to  work. 
(Applause.)  Of  course  you  will  have  to  work,  and  I  envy  you 
the  fact  that  before  you,  before  the  graduates  of  this  university 
lies  the  chance  of  lives  to  be  spent  in  hard  labor  for  great  and 
glorious  and  useful  causes,  hard  labor  for  the  uplifting  of  your 
States,  of  the  Union,  of  all  mankind.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
BURLING  AM  E,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  iz,  1903 

Let  me  thank  you  for  coming  out  to  see  me,  and  say  how  I 
have  enjoyed  coming  here.  I  have  enjoyed  being  in  California 
for  the  last  week,  and  it  has  been  the  greatest  possible  pleasure. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 


[74] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE 
BUILDING  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN'S 
CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION,  SAN  FRAN- 
CISCO, CALIFORNIA 

MAY  12,  1903 

MR.    CHAIRMAN,    AND    You,    MY    FELLOW-CITIZENS,    MEN    AND 
WOMEN  OF  THIS  GREAT  CITY,  OF  THIS  GREAT  STATE  : 

Few  things  could  have  given  me  more  pleasure  than  the  priv- 
ilege of  taking  part  at  the  dedication,  free  of  debt,  of  this  build- 
ing to  the  uses  for  which  it  is  dedicated.  It  would  be  hard  to 
overestimate  the  amount  of  good  work  done  by  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  and  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Associations.  (Applause.)  I  well  remember  that  I  used  to  feel 
for  a  long  time  indignant  that  there  were  not  Young  Women's 
Christian  Associations  also,  and  how  pleased  I  was  when  they 
started  and  the  development  they  attained.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  been  able  to  a  very  marked  degree  to  com- 
bine that  practical  efficiency  in  action,  in  adherence  to  a  lofty 
ideal  which  should  be  the  aim  of  all  decent  citizenship  through- 
out our  country.  (Applause.) 

Of  course  it  is  not  enough  to  have  mere  efficiency.  The  more 
efficient  a  man  is  the  more  dangerous  he  is  if  that  efficiency  is 
not  guided  by  the  proper  type  of  spirit,  by  the  proper  sense  of 
moral  responsibility.  Of  course  it  is  a  mere  truism  to  say  that 
the  very  abilities,  physical,  mental,  moral,  that  the  very  abilities 
of  the  body,  the  mind  and  the  soul,  which  make  a  man  potent 
for  good,  if  they  are  guided  aright,  make  him  dangerous  to  him- 
self and  to  the  whole  community  if  they  are  guided  wrong.  And 
the  man  because  of  his  strength,  because  of  his  courage,  of  his 
power,  can  do  best  work  for  decency,  if  these  attributes  are  used 
in  the  proper  service,  will  do  most  harm  if  there  is  no  guiding 

[75] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


principle  behind  them.  As  I  say,  that  is  a  mere  truism;  you  all 
of  you  know  it,  in  dealing  in  your  own  families,  with  your  neigh- 
bors, in  your  relations  with  the  State,  that  strength  of  any  kind, 
physical,  mental,  is  but  a  source  of  danger  if  it  is  not  guided 
aright.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  just  as  important  for  every  man 
or  woman,  who  is  striving  for  decency  to  keep  ever  in  mind  the 
further  fact  that  unless  there  is  power,  efficiency,  behind  the 
effort  for  decency,  scant  is  the  good  that  will  come.  It  is  not 
enough  to  have  mere  aspiration  after  righteousness;  it  is  not 
enough  to  have  the  lofty  ideal;  with  it  must  go  the  power  of  in 
some  sort  practically  realizing  it.  The  cloistered  virtue  which 
fears  the  rough  contact  with  the  world  can  avail  but  little  in  our 
eminently  practical  civilization  of  today,  in  the  rough  and  tumble 
life  made  necessary,  inevitably  attendant  upon  the  development  of 
a  strong  and  masterful  people  working  out  its  fate  through  the 
complex  industrialism  of  this  age.  With  decency  there  must  go 
the  power  practically  to  apply  it  in  life,  practically  to  work  it 
out,  and  to  work  it  out  for  the  benefit  of  others  as  well  as  for 
one's  self.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  stands  for  so  much  because  it  repre- 
sents the  work  of  men  and  women  who  to  a  generous  enthusiasm 
for  their  fellows,  to  a  lofty  ideal  of  service  for  the  Giver  of  good, 
and  for  all  mankind,  join  the  power  to  realize  that  ideal  in  prac- 
tical ways,  the  power  to  work  concretely  for  the  attainment  of 
at  least  some  measure  of  the  good  sought. 

I  have  come  across  the  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  in  many  different  walks  of  life.  I  do  not  know  any 
branch  of  it  that  has  done  better  work  than  the  branch  connected 
with  the  railway  organizations,  for  instance,  and  I  naturally  feel 
a  peculiar  interest  in  and  rejoice  peculiarly  over  the  work  done 
among  the  soldiers  and  sailors  wearing  the  uniform  of  the  United 
States  Government.  (Applause.)  Every  decent  American  ought 
to  be  proud  of  the  army  and  the  navy  of  Uncle  Sam.  (Applause.) 
Therefore,  it  is  peculiarly  incumbent  upon  us  to  see  that  the  man 
in  that  army  or  navy  has  a  help  given  in  the  right  way,  not  the 
wrong  way  (applause)  ;  that  he  is  given  a  chance  for  whole- 

[76] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


some  amusement,  a  chance  to  lead  an  upright  and  honorable  life 
in  his  hours  of  relaxation.  Another  thing  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  repre- 
sents, and  that  is  knowledge  of  human  nature.  You  are  not 
going  to  do  very  much  good  with  human  nature  if  you  attempt  to 
take  the  bad  out  of  it,  by  leaving  a  vacuum,  for  that  vacuum  is 
going  to  be  filled  with  something,  and  if  you  do  not  fill  it  with 
what  is  good  it  will  be  filled  with  what  is  evil.  (Applause.)  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  represents  the  effort  to  pro- 
vide for  the  body  as  well  as  for  the  mind,  to  help  young  men  to 
educate  themselves,  to  train  themselves  for  the  practical  life  as 
well  as  for  the  higher  life,  and  to  give  them  amusement  and  re- 
laxation that  will  educate  and  not  debase  them.  In  other  words, 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  all  its  branches  is  working  for  civic  and 
social  righteousness,  for  decency,  for  good  citizenship.  There  is 
no  patent  recipe  for  getting  good  citizenship.  You  get  it  by  ap- 
plying the  old,  old  rules  of  decent  conduct,  the  rules  in  accord- 
ance with  which  decent  men  have  had  to  shape  their  lives  from 
the  beginning.  A  good  citizen,  a  man  who  stands  as  he  should 
stand  in  his  relations  to  the  State,  to  the  nation,  must  first  of 
all  be  a  good  member  of  his  own  family  (applause)  ;  a  good 
father  or  son,  brother  or  husband,  a  man  who  does  right  the 
thing  that  is  nearest,  a  man  who  is  a  good  neighbor,  and  I  use 
neighbor  broadly,  who  handles  himself  as  his  self-respect  should 
bid  him  handle  himself  in  his  relations  with  the  community  at 
large,  in  his  relations  with  those  whom  he  employs,  or  by  whom 
he  is  employed,  with  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  in 
any  form  of  business  relations,  or  in  any  other  way.  If  there  is 
one  lesson  which  I  think  each  of  us  learns  as  he  grows  older,  it 
is  that  it  is  not  what  the  man  works  at,  provided,  of  course,  it 
is  respectable  and  honorable  in  character,  that  fixes  his  place;  it 
is  the  way  he  works  at  it.  (Applause.)  Providence  working  in 
ways  that  to  us  are  inscrutable  conditions  our  lives  so  that  but  few 
men  can  choose  exactly  the  work  they  would  like  best.  One  man 
finds  that  his  lines  lie  in  pleasant  places;  another  not;  one  man 
finds  that  to  him  is  allotted  one  task  and  another  that  he  must 

[77] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


undertake  an  entirely  different  task.  All  the  tasks  are  necessary. 
Every  man  engaged  in  this  great  city  on  this  day  in  any  of  the 
innumerable  kinds  of  work  necessary  to  the  legitimate  life  of  the 
city,  is  himself  doing  necessary  and  honorable  work;  and  if  we 
are  sincere  in  our  professions  of  adherence  to  the  principles  laid 
down  to  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  if  we  are  sincere  in  our 
professions  of  adherence  to  the  immutable  laws  of  righteousness 
we  will  honor  in  others  and  ourselves  the  power  of  each  to  do 
decently  and  well  the  work  allotted  to  him  and  ask  nothing  fur- 
than  that.  "  (Applause.)  If  we  can  get  ourselves  and  the 
community  at  large  really  imbued  with  that  spirit  nine  tenths  of 
the  difficulties  that  beset  us  will  vanish.  For  far  more  important 
in  causing  trouble  than  any  material  misery  or  material  misfor- 
tune, is  the  moral  misery,  the  moral  misfortune,  the  moral  wrong- 
doing which,  on  the  one  hand,  makes  a  man  arrogant  to  those 
whom  he  regards  as  less  well  off  than  himself,  and  which  on  the 
other  hand  manifests  itself  in  the  equally  base  shape  of  rancor, 
hate,  envy,  or  jealousy  for  those  better  off.  (Applause.)  One 
form  of  misconduct  is  just  as  bad  as  the  other,  and  to  preach 
against  either  only  to  those  afflicted  by  the  other  does  no  good. 
(Applause.)  When  we  practically  realize  that  the  worth  lies  in 
the  way  of  doing  the  work;  that  that  applies  whether  your  work 
is  that  of  employer  to  employed,  of  townsman  or  countryman, 
of  the  man  who  works  with  his  head  or  the  man  who  works 
with  his  hands;  when  we  practically  realize  that,  each  man  will 
have  too  much  respect  for  himself  and  for  his  brother  ever  to 
permit  himself  either  to  look  down  upon  that  brother,  or  to  re- 
gard him  with  envy  and  jealousy,  either  one.  (Applause.)  When 
we  get  that  spirit  in  the  community  we  will  have  taken  a  longer 
stride  toward  at  least  an  imperfect  realization  in  this  world  of 
the  principle  of  applied  Christianity  than  has  ever  been  taken  in 
the  world  before.  (Applause.) 

I  thank  you  for  giving  me  the  opportunity  to  share  in  however 
small  a  degree  in  the  work  that  you  are  doing,  and  I  wish  you 
Godspeed.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS  AT  BANQUET  TENDERED  BY 
THE  CITIZENS  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO, 
CALIFORNIA,  AT  PALACE  HOTEL 

MAY  12,  1903 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  MR.  MAYOR,  MR.  GOVERNOR,  AND  You,  MY  HOSTS  : 

Let  me  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  the  more  than  kind- 
ness, the  more  than  courtesy  and  cordiality,  with  which  I  have 
been  treated  in  California  from  the  hour  when  I  first  set  foot 
within  her  borders.  Governor,  the  message  that  I  shall  send  back 
is :  I  have  come  to  California ;  I  have  seen ;  and  I  have  been 
conquered  by  California's  citizens  and  California's  Governor. 

And,  Mr.  Mayor,  as  you  said  in  your  speech,  the  thing  that  has 
struck  me  most  coming  here,  coming  from  the  East  through  the 
West,  west  of  the  West  to  California — the  thing  that  has  struck 
me  most  is  that  though  I  have  never  been  in  your  great  and 
beautiful  State  before,  though  I  have  known  your  citizens  only  as 
I  met  them  elsewhere,  I  am  absolutely  at  home,  for  I  am  speaking 
as  one  American  to  his  fellow- Americans.  (Cries  of  "Good!" 
Cheers  and  applause.)  I  have  been  pleased  with  the  diversity 
of  the  country,  but,  oh  my  fellow-countrymen,  I  have  been  pleased 
infinitely  more  with  the  unity  of  our  country.  (Applause.)  While 
I  am  not  by  inheritance  a  Puritan,  I  have  acquired  certain  traits 
one  of  which  is  an  uneasy  feeling  which  I  think  a  large  number 
of  Americans  share,  that  when  we  are  having  a  good  time,  it  is 
not  quite  right.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  And  during  the  week 
that  I  have  been  in  California  I  have  enjoyed  myself  so  much  that 
I  have  had  a  slight  feeling  that  maybe  I  was  not  quite  doing 
my  duty.  (Applause.)  But  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  penitent  about 
it. 

And  now,  my  fellow-citizens,  let  me  try  to  express,  for  I  can 
[79] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


only  try,  I  cannot  fully  express,  how  I  have  enjoyed  and  ap- 
preciated my  visit  to  California,  my  sojourn  among  you.  It  has 
been  a  genuine  revelation,  for  while  I  knew  of  much  that  I  should 
see,  I  could  not  realize  it  until  I  had  seen  it.  I  think  I  was  a 
fairly  good  American  a  week  ago  when  I  came  into  your  State, 
but  I  am  a  better  one  now  (applause),  and  even  more  confident 
in  the  nation's  future  and  more  resolute  to  do  whatever  in  my 
power  lies  to  bring  about  that  future.  (Applause.)  I  thank  you; 
I  thank  the  citizens  of  the  Golden  State  for  their  greeting.  I  re- 
joice with  you  in  the  wonderful  prosperity  of  California,  and  that 
prosperity  is  but  part  of  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  nation. 
Speaking  broadly,  prosperity  must  of  necessity  come  to  all  of  us 
or  to  none  of  us.  There  are  sporadic  exceptions.  Of  course  we 
all  of  us  know  people  who  cannot  be  made  prosperous  by  any 
season  of  good  fortune.  There  will  be  exceptions,  individual 
and  local,  but  the  law  of  brotherhood  is  the  universal  law,  the 
law  upon  which  the  well-being  of  this  nation  is  based,  and  taken 
as  a  whole  we  can  state  with  absolute  certainty  that  if  good  times 
come  they  will  come  more  or  less  to  all  sections  and  all  classes, 
and  that  if  hard  times  come,  while  they  may  bear  unequally  upon 
us,  yet  more  or  less  they  bear  upon  each  State,  upon  each  set  of 
individuals.  For  weal  or  for  woe,  we  of  this  country  are  indis- 
solubly  bound  together.  (Cries  of  "Good!"  Cheers  and  applause.) 
In  the  long  run  we  shall  go  up  or  go  down  accordingly  as  the 
whole  nation  goes  up  or  goes  down.  Therefore  it  is  that  no 
more  wicked  deed  can  be  done  than  the  deed  of  him  who  would 
seek  to  make  any  of  our  people  believe  that  they  can  rise  by 
trampling  down  their  fellows.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  And  no 
more  wicked  appeal  can  be  made  than  the  appeal  to  rancor,  to 
hatred,  to  jealousy,  whether  made  in  the  name  of  a  section  or  in 
the  name  of  a  class.  (Applause.) 

The  Golden  State  has  a  future  of  even  brighter  promise  than 
most  of  her  older  sisters,  and  yet  the  future  is  bright  for  all  of  us. 
California,  still  in  her  youth,  can  look  forward  to  such  growth  as 

[80] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

only  a  few  of  her  sisters  can  share,  yet  there  are  immense  pos- 
sibilities of  growth  for  all  our  States  from  one  end  of  the  Union 
to  the  other.  In  this  growth,  in  keeping  and  increasing  our  pros- 
perity, the  most  important  factor  must  be  the  character  of  our 
citizenship.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  the  average  quality 
of  energy,  thrift,  business  enterprise  and  sanity  in  our  community 
as  a  whole.  Unless  the  average  individual  in  our  nation  has  to 
a  high  degree  the  qualities  that  command  success  we  cannot  ex- 
pect to  deserve  it  or  to  keep  what  it  brings.  (Applause.)  Our 
future  is  in  my  opinion  well  assured  from  the  very  fact  that 
there  is  this  high  degree  of  character  in  the  average  American 
citizen.  (Applause.)  I  cannot  over-emphasize  the  fact  that  law 
and  the  administration  of  the  law  can  merely  supplement  and  help 
to  give  full  play  to  the  forces  that  make  the  individual  man  a 
factor  of  usefulness  in  the  community.  If  the  individual  citizen 
has  not  got  the  right  stuff  in  him  you  cannot  get  it  out  of  him, 
because  it  is  not  there  to  get  out.  (Applause.)  No  law  that  the 
wit  of  man  has  ever  devised  ever  has  made  or  ever  will  make  the 
fool  wise,  the  coward  brave,  or  the  weakling  strong.  (Cheers 
and  applause.)  When  we  get  down  to  those  places  where  you 
see  humanity  in  the  raw  then  it  is  the  native  strength  of  the  man 
that  will  count  more  than  aught  else ;  and  we  cannot  afford  in 
this  community  ever  to  weaken  the  spirit  of  individual  initiative, 
ever  to  make  any  man  believe  that  if  he  cannot  walk  himself 
somehow  the  law  can  carry  him.  It  cannot.  (Applause.)  There 
is  but  one  real  way  in  which  any  man  can  be  helped,  and  that  is 
by  teaching  him  to  help  himself.  (Applause.) 

Remember  that  the  factor  of  the  sum  of  the  individual's  own 
qualities  comes  first.  With  that  admitted,  with  that  kept  in  mind, 
it  is  then  true  that  something,  and  oftentimes  a  good  deal,  can 
be  done  by  wise  legislation  and  by  upright,  honest  and  fearless 
enforcement  of  the  laws,  an  enforcement  of  the  laws  which  must 
and  shall  know  no  respect  of  persons — (applause)  laws  local, 
laws  State,  laws  national.  We  have  attained  our  present  posi- 
tion of  economic  well-being,  of  economic  leadership  in  the  inter- 

[8.] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 

national  business  world  under  a  tariff  policy  in  which  I  think 
our  people  as  a  whole  have  acquiesced  as  essentially  wise  alike 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  manufacturer,  the  merchant,  the 
farmer,  and  the  wageworker.  Doubtless  as  our  needs  shift  it  will 
be  necessary  to  reapply  in  its  details  this  system  so  as  to  meet 
those  shifting  needs ;  but  it  would  certainly  seem  from  the  stand- 
point of  our  business  interests — and  such  a  question,  primarily 
a  business  question,  should  be  approached  only  from  the  stand- 
point of  our  business  interests — it  would  seem  most  unwise  to 
abandon  the  general  policy  of  the  system  under  which  our  success 
has  been  so  signal. 

In  financial  matters  we  are  to  be  congratulated  upon  having 
definitely  determined  that  our  currency  system  must  rest  upon 
a  gold  basis  (applause),  for  to  follow  any  other  course  would  have 
meant  disaster  so  widespread  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  over- 
estimate it.  There  is,  however,  unquestionably  need  of  enacting 
further  financial  legislation  so  as  to  provide  for  greater  elasticity 
in  our  currency  system.  (Applause.)  At  present  there  are  certain 
seasons  during  which  the  rigidity  of  this  system  causes  a  strin- 
gency most  unfortunate  in  its  effects.  The  last  Congress  in  its 
wisdom  took  up  and  disposed  of  various  matters  of  vital  moment ; 
such  as  those  dealing  with  the  regulation  and  supervision  of  the 
great  corporations  commonly  known  as  trusts,  with  securing  in 
effective  fashion  the  abolition  of  rebates  by  transportation  com- 
panies, that  is  with  securing  fair  play  as  between  the  big  man  and 
the  little  man  in  getting  their  products  to  market  (applause), 
and  in  initiating  the  national  system  of  irrigation.  So  in  my 
judgment  the  Congress  that  is  to  assemble  next  fall  should  take 
up  and  dispose  of  the  pressing  questions  relating  to  banking  and 
currency.  I  believe  that  such  action  will  be  taken,  and  I  am  sure 
that  it  ought  to  be  taken.  (Applause.)  It  is  needed  in  the  interest 
of  the  business  world  and  it  is  needed  even  more  in  the  interest 
in  the  world  of  producers,  of  earth  tillers,  of  men  who  make  their 
living  by  the  products  of  the  farm  and  ranch.  Such  action  would 
supplement  in  fitting  style  the  excellent  work  that  has  already 

[8a] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


been  done  in  recent  years  in  regard  to  our  monetary  system. 
There  always  will  be  need  of  wise  legislation  and  an  even  greater 
need  of  the  wisdom  which  recognizes  when  the  wisest  policy  is 
to  have  no  legislation ;  and  it  is  of  prime  importance  to  us  to 
remember  that  we  cannot  afford  to  condone  in  public  life  any 
deviation  from  the  principles  of  common  sense  and  of  rugged 
honesty  which  we  deem  essential  in  private  and  business  life. 
(Applause.) 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  good  government.  Good  government 
comes  to  the  nation  the  bulk  of  whose  people  show  in  their  re- 
lations to  that  government  the  humdrum,  ordinary,  work-a-day 
virtues,  and  it  comes  and  can  come  upon  no  other  condition.  We 
need  the  best  intellectual  skill,  we  need  the  most  thorough  train- 
ing in  public  life,  but  such  skill  and  such  training  can  be  only 
supplementary  to  and  in  some  sense  substitutes  for  the  fundamen- 
tal virtues  that  have  marked  every  great  and  prosperous  nation 
since  the  dim  years  when  history  dawned,  the  fundamental  virtues 
of  decency,  honesty,  courage,  hardihood ;  the  spirit  of  fair  dealing 
as  between  man  and  man,  the  spirit  that  dares,  that  foresees,  that 
endures,  that  triumphs;  and  added  to  all  those  qualities,  the  sav- 
ing grace  of  common  sense.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[83] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  HALL  OF  THE  NATIVE 
SONS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  WEST,  SAN 
FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA,  IN  RE- 
SPONSE TO  GREETINGS  FROM  THE 
ASSOCIATION  OF  PIONEERS,  MEXI- 
CAN WAR  VETERANS,  NATIVE  SONS 
OF  THE  GOLDEN  WEST,  AND  NATIVE 
DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  WEST 

MAY  13,  1903 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  MRS.  KEITH,  AND  You  WHO  HAVE  GREETED  ME 
TODAY  : 

I  thank  you,  men  and  women  of  the  Golden  State.  I  thank 
you  not  merely  for  the  greeting  you  have  given  me  today,  but 
through  you  I  thank  your  State  for  the  week  I  have  spent  within 
her  borders.  I  trust  I  came  within  them  a  fairly  good  American, 
and  I  leave  them  a  better  American.  (Applause.) 

I  am  deeply  touched  by  the  beautiful  gift  you  have  given  me, 
and  you  see  this  shows  that  even  a  President  can  be  a  successful 
bear  hunter.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  I  had  begun  to  think 
that  my  acquaintance  with  that  noble  animal  must  cease. 

Mr.  Phelan,  you  pleased  and  touched  me  very  much  by  what 
you  said  as  to  my  feeling  toward  the  pioneers.  Of  course  I  am 
glad  to  be  welcomed  by  you,  for  you,  the  men  of  '49,  the  men 
of  the  Mexican  War,  you  have  done  what  I  preach,  and  practice 
is  always  better  than  preaching.  I  should  be  sorry  indeed  if  there 
were  not  societies  like  those  of  the  Native  Sons  and  Native 
Daughters  in  this  State  to  keep  alive  the  sense  of  historic  con- 
tinuity with  the  State's  mighty  past.  (Applause.)  I  have  wel- 
comed the  sight  of  the  feeling  which  has  made  the  people  of  this 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY    ) 

OF 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


State  wish  to  preserve  the  ancient  landmarks,  landmarks  of  man 
and  landmarks  of  nature,  and  which  has  made  them  desirous  of 
keeping  alive  the  memory  of  the  great  deeds  and  great  doers, 
which  gave  the  State  to  the  Union. 

Proud  of  your  State?  Of  course  you  are  pfoud  of  your  State. 
How  could  you  help  being?  I  do  not  praise  you  for  being  proud 
of  your  State.  I  would  be  ashamed  of  you  if  you  were  not. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  for  us  fully  to  realize  what  has  been 
done.  Colonel,  you  and  your  fellow-veterans  took  part  in  a  war 
which  in  its  effects  dwarfed  into  insignificance  all  the  struggles 
of  contemporary  Europe.  It  often  happens  that  at  the  time  being 
two  great  contests  are  seen  entirely  out  of  perspective,  that  the 
real  importance  of  them  is  shrouded  from  the  eyes  that  look  on 
at  the  moment,  so  that  at  the  time  of  the  decay  of  the  Roman 
empire  the  struggles  of  the  rival  claimants  for  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars  seemed  all-important  to  the  people  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  but  now  we  forget  even  the  names  of  those  under 
whose  banners  the  rival  factions  fought,  while  for  all  time  deeply 
imprinted  in  history  are  the  deeds  of  the  men,  the  barbarians, 
who  came  from  the  north  and  who  founded  France,  England, 
Lombardy  and  Spain  as  we  know  them  today,  those  deeds  were 
of  lasting  consequence,  but  we  have  forgotten  what  the  others 
fought  about,  so  now  no  one  cares  to  try  to  disentangle  the  cause 
of  the  wars  between  the  successors  to  the  empire  of  Alexander 
for  the  fragments  of  his  monarchy,  but  the  issue  of  the  struggle 
between  Rome  and  Carthage  was  big  with  the  fate  of  the  world. 
Here  on  this  continent  while  great  European  nations  spent  their 
blood  and  their  treasure  in  devastating  warfare  for  tiny  provinces, 
it  was  given  to  this  people  to  wage  war  against  man,  to  wage 
war  against  nature,  for  the  possession  of  the  vast,  lonely  spaces 
of  the  earth  which  we  have  now  made  the  seat  of  a  mighty  civili- 
zation. (Applause.)  Why,  Colonel,  you  and  your  fellows,  you 
and  the  men  who  came  here  as  pioneers,  settled  the  destiny  of  half 
a  continent  and  ultimately  settled  the  destiny  of  the  greatest  of 
all  the  oceans.  (Applause.) 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


Great  were  your  feats;  great  the  deeds  you  did;  you  did  them 
in  iron  times;  and  you  could  have  done  them  only  on  condition 
of  having  iron  in  your  blood,  of  having  within  you  the  spirit  that 
drives  a  man  onward  over  obstacles,  over  difficulties,  that  makes 
him  refuse  to  be  daunted,  and  out  of  failure  through  effort  win 
ultimate  success.  (Applause.)  The  days  have  changed.  The 
pioneer  days  have  gone,  but  the  need  for  the  old  pioneer  virtues 
remains  as  great  as  ever.  (Applause.)  In  every  generation  we 
see  people  who  treat  the  mighty  deeds  of  the  fathers  as  an  excuse 
for  failing  to  do  all  that  should  be  done  themselves.  It  is  there- 
fore the  duty  of  those  of  each  generation  who  appreciate  to  the 
full  what  the  work  of  the  fathers  meant,  to  keep  alive  the  mem- 
ory of  that  work  as  a  spur  to  ever  fresh  effort  on  their  part. 
(Applause.)  For  that  reason  I  hail  with  especial  pleasure  the  ex- 
istence of  such  societies  as  those  which  seek  to  band  together  the 
young  men  and  young  women  native  born  to  this  State  and  seek 
to  keep  alive  in  them  the  spirit  which  will  make  them  in  their 
turn  do  mighty  works,  mighty  deeds,  of  which  their  children  shall 
be  proud.  (Applause.) 

We  are  proud  of  you.  We  are  proud  of  the  men  of  the  war  of 
'46,  of  the  men  of  '49,  because  in  1846  and  in  1849  you  did  not  hold 
the  fact  that  your  fathers  had  done  well  in  1876  as  an  excuse  for 
your  doing  nothing.  (Applause.)  And  we,  if  we  expect  our  chil- 
dren to  be  proud  of  us  and  not  to  have  to  skip  a  generation  in  or- 
der to  have  cause  to  be  proud,  if  we  expect  them  to  be  proud  of 
us,  we  must  in  our  turn  try  to  do  to  the  best  of  our  capacity  the 
deeds  ready  at  hand;  try  to  grapple  with  the  work  that  the  nation 
finds  to  be  done  without  its  boundaries  and  within,  the  work  of 
civic  and  municipal  administration,  the  work  of  endeavoring  to 
better  our  social  as  well  as  our  political  system,  the  work  of  striv- 
ing to  make  more  real,  more  part  of  our  lives  in  practice,  the 
principles  of  brotherhood  to  which  we  all  in  the  abstract  pay 
our  homage,  and  also  of  keeping  up  our  work  as  a  people  without 
our  boundaries.  As  the  Colonel  said,  this  was  the  boundary.  It 
is  not.  Sail  westward  and  westward  and  you  will  find  that  the 

[86] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

boundary  has  gone.  San  Francisco  is  not  on  the  westernmost 
verge  of  our  possessions.  Run  down  the  lines  of  longitude  and 
you  will  find  that  it  is  in  the  exact  center.  (Applause.) 

I  ask  then,  men  and  women  of  this  great  and  beautiful  State, 
this  wonderful  State,  that  you,  that  all  of  us  approach  our  duties 
of  today  in  the  spirit  that  our  fathers  have  shown  in  the  different 
crises  of  the  past,  that  we  approach  them  realizing  that  nothing 
can  take  the  place  of  the  ordinary,  everyday  performance  of  duty, 
that  we  need  the  virtues  which  do  not  wait  for  heroic  times,  but 
which  are  exercised  day  in  and  day  out  in  the  ordinary  work,  the 
ordinary  duty  of  the  life  domestic,  the  life  social,  the  life  in 
reference  to  the  State ;  and  if  we  show  those  qualities,  if  we  show 
the  qualities  that  make  for  good  citizenship,  for  decency  and 
civic  righteousness  in  ordinary  times,  my  faith  is  firm  that  when 
the  need  for  the  heroic  efforts  arises  our  people  will  in  the  future 
as  they  have  always  done  in  the  past  show  that  they  have  the 
capacity  for  heroic  work.  (Great  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  CEREMONIES,  INCI- 
DENT TO  THE  BREAKING  OF  SOD 
FOR  THE  ERECTION  OF  A  MONU- 
MENT IN  MEMORY  OF  THE  LATE 
PRESIDENT  McKINLEY,  AT  SAN 
FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA 

MAY  13,  190} 

FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-AMERICANS: 

It  is  a  befitting  thing  that  the  first  sod  turned  to  prepare  for 
the  monument  to  commemorate  President  McKinley  should  be 
turned  in  the  presence  of  his  old  comrades  of  the  great  war,  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  men  who,  in  a  lesser  war,  strove  to  show 
that  they  were  not  wholly  unworthy  of  those  who  in  the  dark 
years  from  '61  to  '65  proved  their  truth  by  their  endeavor;  and 
with  the  blood  cemented  the  foundation  of  the  American  Repub- 
lic. (Applause.)  It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  speak  in  memory  of  a 
man  who,  when  young,  went  to  war  for  the  honor  and  the  life 
of  the  nation,  who  for  four  years  did  his  part  in  the  camp,  on 
the  march,  in  battle,  rising  steadily  upward  from  the  ranks,  and 
to  whom  it  was  given  in  after  life  to  show  himself  exemplary  in 
public  and  in  private  conduct,  to  become  the  ideal  of  the  nation 
in  peace  as  he  had  been  a  typical  representative  of  the  nation's 
young  sons  in  war.  (Applause.) 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  man  since  Lincoln  was  as 
widely  and  as  universally  beloved  in  this  country  as  was  Presi- 
dent McKinley.  (Applause.)  For  it  was  given  to  him  not  only 
to  rise  to  the  most  exalted  station  but  to  typify  in  his  character 
and  conduct  those  virtues  which  any  citizen  worthy  of  the  name 
likes  to  regard  as  typically  American ;  to  typify  the  virtues  of 
cleanly  and  upright  living  in  all  relations,  private  and  public,  as 

[88] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


in  the  most  intimate  family  relations,  in  the  relations  of  business, 
in  the  relations  with  his  neighbors,  and  finally,  in  his  conduct  of 
the  great  affairs  of  state.  And  exactly  as  it  was  given  to  him  to 
do  his  part  in  settling  aright  the  greatest  problem  which  it  has 
ever  befallen  this  nation  to  settle  since  it  became  a  nation — the 
problem  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  abolition 
of  slavery — exactly  as  it  was  his  good  fortune  to  do  his 
part  as  a  man  should  in  his  youth  in  settling  that  great 
problem,  so  it  was  his  good  fortune  when  he  became  in  fact  and 
in  name  the  nation's  chief,  the  nation's  titular  and  the  nation's 
real  chief,  to  settle  the  problems  springing  out  of  the  Spanish 
War;  problems  less  important  only  than  those  which  were  dealt 
with  by  the  men  who,  under  the  lead  of  Washington,  founded 
our  government,  and  the  men  who,  upholding  the  statesmanship 
of  Lincoln  and  following  the  sword  of  Grant,  or  Sherman,  or 
Thomas  or  Sheridan  saved  and  perpetuated  the  Republic.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

When  1898  came  and  the  war  which  President  McKinley  in  all 
honesty  and  in  all  sincerity  sought  to  avoid  became  inevitable, 
and  was  pressed  upon  him,  he  met  it  as  he  and  you  had  met  the 
crisis  of  1861.  He  did  his  best  to  prevent  the  war  coming;  once 
it  became  evident  that  it  had  to  come  then  he  did  his  best  to  see 
that  it  was  ended  as  quickly  and  as  thoroughly  as  possible.  (Ap- 
plause.) It  is  a  good  lesson  for  nations  and  individuals  to  learn 
never  to  hit  if  it  can  be  helped  and  never  to  hit  soft.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  I  think  it  is  getting  to  be  fairly  understood  that 
that  is  our  foreign  policy.  We  do  not  want  to  threaten ;  certainly 
we  do  not  desire  to  wrong  any  man ;  we  are  going  to  keep  out  of 
trouble  if  we  possibly  can  keep  out;  and  if  it  becomes  necessary 
for  our  honor  and  our  interest  to  assert  a  given  position  we  shall 
assert  it  with  every  intention  of  making  the  assertion  good. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 

The  Spanish  War  came.  As  its  aftermath  came  trouble  in  the 
Philippines,  and  it  was  natural  that  this  State  within  whose  bor- 
ders live  and  have  lived  so  many  of  the  men  who  fought  in  the 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


great  war — it  was  natural  that  this  State  should  find  its  sons 
eagerly  volunteering  for  the  chance  to  prove  their  truth  in  the 
war  that  came  in  their  days ;  and  it  was  to  be  expected  that  Cali- 
fornia's sons  should  do  well,  as  they  did  do  well,  in  the  Philip- 
pines in  the  new  contest  (Applause.) 

And  now  it  is  eminently  fitting  that  the  men  of  the  great  war 
and  the  men  of  the  lesser  war  claiming  not  only  to  have  been 
good  soldiers  but  to  be  good  citizens  should  come  here  to  assist 
at  laying  the  foundation  of  the  monument  to  him  who  typified 
in  his  career  the  virtues  of  the  soldier  and  exemplified  in  his  high 
office  our  ideals  of  good  citizenship.  I  am  glad  that  a  monument 
should  have  been  erected  here  in  this  wonderful  State  on  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific;  in  this  city  with  a  great  past  and  with  a 
future  so  great  that  the  most  sanguine  among  us  cannot  properly 
estimate  it;  this  city,  the  city  of  the  Occident  which  looks  west 
to  the  Orient  across  the  Pacific,  westward  to  the  West  that  is  the 
hoary  East;  this  city  situated  upon  that  giant  ocean  which  will 
in  a  not  distant  future  be  commercially  the  most  important  body 
of  water  in  the  entire  world. 

I  have  enjoyed  coming  into  your  State;  coming  into  your  city, 
and  speaking  to  an  audience  like  this,  an  audience  composed  so 
largely  of  volunteer  soldiers,  old  and  young.  I  wish  to  say  how 
I  have  enjoyed  seeing,  and  to-day  reviewing,  the  officers  and  en- 
listed men  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States — the  reg- 
ulars. Thank  Heaven !  the  day  is  long  past  when  the  thought  of 
any  rivalry  save  that  of  honest  and  generous  emulation  in  the 
service  of  the  Republic  could  exist  between  regular  and  volun- 
teer. (Cheers  and  applause.)  Need  I  say  between  regular  and 
volunteer?  Why,  the  regulars  are  all  volunteers.  In  our  country 
every  officer,  every  enlisted  man,  in  the  navy  or  the  army  is  these 
because  he  has  volunteered  to  go  in.  And  as  I  looked  at  the  faces 
of  the  officers  and  men  under  General  MacArthur  and  Admiral 
Glass  I  felt  proud  as  Commander-in-Chief  that  they  formed  our 
army  and  navy  and  prouder  as  an  American  citizen  to  see  such 

[90] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


American  citizens   wearing  the   uniform    of    Uncle   Sam.    (Ap- 
plause.) 

I  thank  you  for  coming  here  and  for  giving  me  the  privilege  of 
joining  with  you  today  in  these  solemn  ceremonies  of  commem- 
oration, the  ceremonies  of  laying  the  foundation  of  the  monument 
which  is  to  keep  green  in  mind  the  memory  of  McKinley  as  a 
lesson  in  war  and  a  lesson  in  peace,  as  a  lesson  to  all  Americans 
of  what  can  be  done  by  the  American  who  in  good  faith  strives 
to  do  his  whole  duty  by  the  mighty  Republic.  (Cheers  and  ap- 
plause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS  ON  BEING  PRESENTED  WITH 
A  CANTEEN  BY  VARIOUS  ORGANIZA- 
TIONS OF  THE  SPANISH  WAR  VET- 
ERANS, AT  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CALI- 
FORNIA 

MAY  13,  1903 

MY  FELLOW- CITIZEN s : 

Now,  comrades,  I  guess  you  do  not  wonder  that  I  am  fond  of 
the  men  of  my  regiment.  In  receiving  this  beautiful  canteen  I 
want  to  say  that  I  shall  prize  it  even  more  than  the  old  one,  and 
all  of  us  know  how  we  prize  the  old  one.  I  want  to  thank  you 
and  my  comrades  of  the  Spanish-American  War  from  my  heart; 
and  I  do  not  have  to  say  to  you  of  the  old  war  that  there  is  no 
other  bond  that  can  unite  men  quite  so  closely  together  as  the 
bond  of  having  in  actual  service  drunk  out  of  the  same  canteen. 
(Applause.) 

I  want  to  say  to  you  a  word  about  Mr.  King.  The  only  time 
I  ever  saw  him  nervous  was  just  now.  He  was  not  only  a  first- 
class  soldier,  but  I  am  sure  that  all  of  you  will  understand  me 
when  I  say  that  in  the  field  he  was  also  a  first-class  cook.  I  shall 
never  forget  one  day  right  after  the  San  Juan  fight  when  I  had 
lived  sumptuously  for  thirty-six  hours  on  two  hardtacks,  Comrade 
King,  somehow  or  other,  had  evolved  the  ingredients  of  a  first- 
class  stew,  and  with  an  affection  which  was  mighty  real  in  its 
results  to  me  at  that  moment,  brought  some  of  it  to  me.  And  I 
have  never  tasted,  not  even  at  the  wonderful  banquet  that  I  have 
attended  in  San  Francisco,  anything  quite  so  good. 

I  have  four  comrades  in  this  city  and  I  had  almost  to  break 
their  hearts  yesterday  in  the  interests  of  the  chief  there  by  re- 
fusing to  have  them  act  as  my  escort  in  the  procession.  It  is 

[V] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


such  a  pleasure  to  see  them  here  and  to  see  all  my  com- 
rades of  the  Spanish  War.  None  of  the  men  of  my  own  genera- 
tion or  of  this  younger,  stand  as  close  to  me  as  you  of  my  regi- 
ment, as  the  men  of  the  Spanish  War  do,  and  I  know  you  younger 
ones  will  not  object  to  my  saying  that  there  are  some  that  stand 
even  closer,  because  we  join  in  doffing  our  hats  to  them,  the  men 
of  the  great  war,  our  examples  in  all  that  we  strove  to  do.  (Cheers 
and  applause.) 


[93] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT    MECHANICS'    PAVILION, 
SAN     FRANCISCO,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  13,  1903 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  AND  You,  MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO, 
OF  CALIFORNIA: 

I  should  be  indeed  unappreciative  if  I  were  not  deeply  stirred 
by  the  greeting  I  have  received  in  your  State,  in  your  city,  and 
especially  by  this  audience  tonight.  (Applause.)  It  has  been  a 
great  pleasure  to  come  into  wonderful  and  beautiful  California, 
to  see  the  State  itself,  but  most  of  all  the  citizens  of  the  State. 
Today  I  have  been  especially  pleased  and  struck  by  the  greeting 
of  the  children.  (Applause.)  You  know  I  believe  in  children; 
and  I  was  not  only  glad  to  see  the  kind  of  children  you  had,  but 
also  how  many  you  had.  (Laughter.)  And  above  all,  I  have  been 
pleased  this  evening  driving  through  the  streets  to  be  greeted  by 
the  children  of  the  night  schools  and  their  teachers. 

I  have  in  New  York  a  very  dear  friend  named  Jacob  Riis  (ap- 
plause)— (let  any  one  that  will  applaud  him,  for  they  ought  to), — 
who  has  written  and  taught  by  precept  and  practice  that  each  one 
of  us  ought  to  be  his  brother's  keeper  when  the  chance  arises,  and 
who  has  devoted  himself  particularly  to  the  welfare  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  especially  to  those  children  to  whom  life  does  not  come 
too  easily  and  to  those  who  have  to  strive  for  their  education  at 
the  same  time  that  they  are  earning  their  living,  and  to  whom  the 
education  is  bound  to  be  of  ten-fold  more  value  because  it  is 
acquired  as  things  worth  acquiring  generally  must  be  acquired 
— by  effort  and  self-sacrifice.  (Applause.) 

I  have  come  from  the  Atlantic  across  this  continent  to  the 
Pacific.  I  have  greeted  many  audiences.  I  see  a  little  diversity, 
but,  oh  my  fellow-citizens,  what  strikes  me  most  and  pleases  me 
most  is  the  fundamental  unity,  is  the  fact  that  wherever  I  go  I 

[94] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


speak  to  an  audience  of  Americans,  be  they  East  or  be  they  West. 
(Cheers  and  applause.)  And  I  make  the  same  appeal  with  the 
same  confidence  here  beside  the  Golden  Gate  that  I  should  make 
by  the  Great  Lakes  or  in  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley  or  on  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  This  is  a  government  of  freemen,  who  have 
achieved  liberty  under  the  law,  who  have,  by  force  of  arms  as  well 
as  by  legislation,  established  once  for  all  as  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  our  government  that  there  shall  not  in  this  country  be 
license;  that  there  shall  not  be  in  this  country  liberty  to  oppress 
without  the  law;  that  liberty  and  freedom  shall  come  under  and 
in  pursuance  of  the  law,  of  the  law  that  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, under  a  government  that  is  a  government  neither  for  the 
rich  man  as  such  nor  for  the  poor  man  as  such,  but  for  every 
man,  rich  or  poor,  if  he  is  a  decent  man  and  does  his  duty  to  the 
State.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 

Before  I  came  to  the  Pacific  Slope  I  was  an  expansionist  (ap- 
plause), and  after  having  been  here  I  fail  to  understand  how  any 
man  convinced  of  his  country's  greatness  and  glad  that  his 
country  should  challenge  with  proud  confidence  its  mighty  future, 
can  be  anything  but  an  expansionist.  (Applause.)  In  the  century 
that  is  opening,  the  commerce  and  the  command  of  the  Pacific 
will  be  factors  of  incalculable  moment  in  the  world's  history. 

The  seat  of  power  ever  shifts  from  land  to  land,  from  sea  to 
sea.  The  earliest  civilizations,  those  seated  beside  the  Nile  and 
in  Mesopotamia  had  little  to  do  with  sea  traffic.  But  with  the 
rise  of  those  people  who  went  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  with  the 
rise  of  the  Phoenicians,  the  men  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  the  Medi- 
terranean became  the  central  sea  on  whose  borders  lay  the  great 
wealthy  and  cultivated  powers  of  antiquity.  The  war  navies  and 
the  merchant  marines  of  Carthage,  Greece  and  Rome  strove  there- 
on for  military  and  industrial  supremacy.  Its  control  was  the 
prerequisite  to  greatness,  and  the  Roman  became  lord  of  the 
Western  world  only  when  his  fleet  rode  unchallenged  from  the 
Aegean  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  Then  Rome  fell.  But  for 
centuries  thereafter  the  wealth  and  the  culture  of  Europe  were 

[95] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


centered  on  its  southern  shores,  and  the  control  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean was  vital  in  favoring  or  checking  their  growth.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  Venice  and  Genoa  flourished  in  their  grandeur 
and  their  might. 

But  gradually  the  nations  of  the  North  grew  beyond  barbarism, 
and  developed  fleets  and  commerce  of  their  own.  The  North  Sea, 
the  Baltic,  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  saw  trading  cities  rise  to  become 
independent  -or  else  to  become  props  of  mighty  civilized  nations. 
The  seafaring  merchants  ventured  with  ever  greater  boldness 
into  the  Atlantic.  The  cities  of  the  Netherlands,  the  ports  of  the 
Hansa,  grew  and  flourished  as  once  the  Italian  cities  had  grown. 
Holland  and  England,  Spain,  Portugal  and  France  sent  forth 
mercantile  adventurers  to  strive  for  fame  and  profit  on  the  high 
seas.  The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  doubled,  America  was  dis- 
covered, and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  became  to  the  greater  modern 
world  what  the  Mediterranean  had  been  to  the  lesser  world  of 
antiquity. 

Now,  men  and  women  of  California,  in  our  own  day,  the  great- 
est of  all  the  oceans,  of  all  the  seas,  and  the  last  to  be  used  on 
a  large  scale  by  civilized  man  bids  fair  to  become  in  its  turn  the 
first  in  point  of  importance.  (Applause.)  The  empire  that  shifted 
from  the  Mediterranean  will  in  the  lifetime  of  those  now  chil- 
dren bid  fair  to  shift  once  more  westward  to  the  Pacific.  When  the 
ipth  century  opened  the  lonely  keels  of  a  few  whale  ships,  a  few 
merchantmen,  had  begun  to  furrow  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Pa- 
cific ;  but  as  a  whole  its  islands  and  its  shores  were  not  materially 
changed  from  what  they  had  been  in  the  long  past  ages  when  the 
Phoenician  galleys  traded  in  the  purple  of  Tyre,  the  ivory  of 
Lybia,  the  treasures  of  Cyprus.  The  junks  of  the  Orient  still 
crept  between  China  and  Japan  and  Farther  India,  and  from  the 
woody  wilderness  which  shrouded  the  western  shores  of  our 
own  continent  the  red  lords  **  the  land  looked  forth  upon  a 
waste  of  waters  which  only  their  own  canoes  traversed.  That 
was  but  a  century  ago;  and  now,  at  the  opening  of  the  20th  cen- 
tury, the  change  is  so  vast  that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  us 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


to  estimate  its  importance.  In  the  South  Seas  the  great  common- 
wealth of  Australia  has  sprung  into  being.  Japan,  shaking  off  the 
lethargy  of  centuries,  has  taken  her  rank  among  civilized,  modern 
powers.  European  nations  have  seated  themselves  along  the 
eastern  coast  of  Asia,  while  China  by  her  misfortunes  has  given 
us  an  object-lesson  in  the  utter  folly  of  attempting  to  exist  as  a 
nation  at  all,  if  at  the  same  time  both  rich  and  defenseless. 

Meanwhile  our  own  mighty  republic  has  stretched  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  now  in  California,  Oregon,  and  Wash- 
ington, in  Alaska,  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines,  holds  an  extent  of 
coast  line  which  makes  it  of  necessity  a  power  of  the  first  class 
in  the  Pacific.  The  extension  in  the  area  of  our  domain  has 
been  immense,  the  extension  in  the  area  of  our  influence  even 
greater.  America's  geographical  position  on  the  Pacific  is  such 
as  to  insure  our  peaceful  domination  of  its  waters  in  the  future 
if  only  we  grasp  with  sufficient  resolution  the  advantages  of  that 
position.  We  are  taking  long  strides  in  that  direction;  witness 
the  cables  we  are  laying  down,  the  steamship  lines  we  are  start- 
ing— some  of  them  already  containing  steamships  larger  than 
any  freight  carriers  that  have  previously  existed.  We  have  taken 
the  first  steps  toward  digging  an  Isthmian  Canal,  to  be  under 
our  own  control  (applause),  a  canal  which  will  make  our  At- 
lantic and  Pacific  coast  lines  in  effect  continuous,  which  will  be 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  our  mercantile  navy,  and  above  all  to 
our  military  navy  in  the  event  of  war. 

The  inevitable  march  of  events  gave  us  the  control  of  the 
Philippine  Islands  at  a  time  so  opportune  that  it  may  without 
irreverence  be  called  Providential.  Unless  we  show  ourselves 
weak,  unless  we  show  ourselves  degenerate  sons  of  the  sires  from 
whose  loins  we  sprang,  we  must  go  on  with  the  work  we  have 
undertaken.  (Applause.)  I  most  earnestly  hope  that  this  work 
will  ever  be  of  a  peaceful  character.  We  infinitely  desire  peace, 
and  the  surest  way  of  obtaining  it  is  to  show  that  we  are  not 
afraid  of  war.  We  should  deal  in  a  spirit  of  justice  and  fairness 
with  weaker  nations,  and  we  should  show  to  the  strongest  that 

[97] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


we  are  able  to  maintain  our  rights.  Such  showing  cannot  be 
made  by  bluster;  for  bluster  merely  invites  contempt.  Let  us 
speak  courteously,  deal  fairly,  and  keep  ourselves  armed  and 
ready.  If  we  do  these  things  we  can  count  on  the  peace  that 
comes  to  the  just  man  armed,  to  the  just  man  who  neither  fears 
nor  inflicts  wrong.  We  must  keep  on  building  and  maintaining 
a  thoroughly  efficient  navy,  with  plenty  of  the  best  and  most 
formidable  ships,  with  an  ample  supply  of  officers  and  men,  and 
with  those  officers  and  men  trained  in  the  most  efficient  fashion 
to  perform  their  duties.  Only  thus  can  we  assure  our  position 
in  the  world  at  large.  It  behooves  all  men  of  lofty  soul  fit  and 
proud  to  belong  to  a  mighty  nation  to  see  to  it  that  we  keep  our 
position  in  the  world;  for  our  proper  place  is  with  the  great  ex- 
panding peoples,  with  the  peoples  that  dare  to  be  great,  that  ac- 
cept with  confidence  a  place  of  leadership  in  the  world.  All  our 
people  should  take  that  position,  but  especially  you  of  California, 
you  of  the  Pacific  Slope,  for  much  of  our  expansion  must  go 
through  the  Golden  Gate.  (Applause.)  And  inevitably  you  who 
are  seated  by  the  Pacific  must  take  the  lead  in  and  must  profit 
by  the  growth  of  American  influence  along  the  coasts  and  among 
the  islands  of  that  mighty  ocean,  where  East  and  West  finally  be- 
come one. 

My  countrymen,  I  believe  in  you  with  all  my  heart.  I  am  proud 
that  it  has  been  granted  to  me  to  be  a  citizen  in  a  nation  of  such 
glorious  opportunities,  with  the  wisdom,  the  hardihood,  and  the 
courage  to  take  advantage  of  them.  We  have  no  choice,  we 
people  of  the  United  States,  as  to  whether  or  not  we  shall  play 
a  great  part  in  the  world.  That  has  been  determined  for  us  by 
fate,  by  the  march  of  events.  We  have  to  play  that  part.  All  that 
we  can  decide  is  whether  we  shall  play  it  well  or  ill.  (Applause.) 
We  are  not  and  cannot  and  never  will  be  one  of  those  nations  that 
can  progress  from  century  to  century  doing  little  and  suffering 
little,  standing  aside  from  the  great  world  currents.  We  must 
either  succeed  greatly  or  fail  greatly.  The  citizen  of  a  small  na- 
tion may  keep  his  self-respect  if  that  nation  plays  but  a  small 

[9*1 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


part  in  the  world,  because  it  is  physically  impossible  for  the 
nation  to  do  otherwise;  but  the  citizen  of  a  great  nation  which 
plays  a  small  part  should  hang  his  head  with  shame.  (Cheers  and 
applause.) 

I  do  not  preach  to  this  country  the  life  of  ease,  any  more  than 
I  should  preach  it  to  any  man  worth  his  salt  living  in  the  country. 
The  citizen  that  counts,  the  man  that  counts  in  our  life  is  the  man 
who  endeavors  not  to  shirk  difficulties  but  to  meet  and  overcome 
them  (applause)  ;  is  the  man  who  endeavors  not  to  lead  his  life 
in  the  world's  soft  places,  not  to  walk  easily  and  take  his  com- 
fort; but  the  man  who  goes  out  to  tread  the  rugged  ways  that 
lead  to  honor  and  success,  the  ways  the  treading  of  which  means 
good  work  worthily  done.  (Applause.) 

What  father  or  what  mother  here,  if  capable  of  taking  the 
right  view,  does  not  wish  to  see  his  or  her  children  grow  up 
trained,  not  to  flinch  but  to  overcome,  trained  not  to  avoid  what- 
ever is  hard  and  rough  and  difficult,  but  to  go  down  into  the  hurly 
burly  of  actual  life  and  win  glory  in  the  arena,  heedless  of  the 
dust  and  the  sweat  and  blood  of  the  contest. 

You  men  of  the  West,  the  older  among  you,  came  here,  hewed 
out  your  own  fates  for  yourselves.  The  younger  among  you  are 
the  heirs  of  the  men  who  did  this,  and  you  cannot,  unless  you  are 
false  to  your  blood,  desire  to  see  the  nation,  which  is  but  the 
aggregate  of  the  individuals  act  otherwise  than  in  the  way  which 
you  esteem  as  honorable  for  the  individual. 

Our  place  as  a  nation  is  and  must  be  with  the  nations  that 
have  left  indelibly  their  impress  on  the  centuries.  Men  will  tell 
you  that  the  great  expanding  nations  of  antiquity  have  passed 
away.  So  they  have;  and  so  have  all  others.  Those  that  did 
not  expand  passed  away  and  left  not  so  much  as  a  memory  be- 
hind them.  The  Roman  expanded,  the  Roman  passed  away,  but 
the  Roman  has  left  the  print  of  his  law,  of  his  language,  of  his 
masterful  ability  in  administration,  deep  in  the  world's  history, 
deeply  imprinted  in  the  character  of  the  races  that  came  after 
him.  I  ask  that  this  people  rise  level  to  the  greatness  of  its 

[99] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


opportunities.  I  do  not  ask  that  it  seek  for  the  easiest  path.  In 
1861  the  easiest  thing  for  each  man  to  do  was  to  stay  at  home, 
and  let  the  Union  be  broken  up.  That  was  the  easy  thing  to  do, 
and  thank  Heaven  for  the  iron  in  the  blood  of  our  fathers,  thank 
Heaven  for  the  souls  within  them,  that  made  the  easy  thing  im- 
possible to  do.  (Applause.) 

Mighty  Lincoln,  sad,  patient  Lincoln,  called,  and  the  young 
men  of  the  country  sprang  to  arms  and  answered  his  call,  and 
the  nation,  the  Republic,  the  peaceful  Republic  of  the  West, 
until  then  the  incarnate  genius  of  peace,  sprang  to  her  feet  with 
sword  and  shield,  a  helmeted  queen  among  nations.  Our  people 
went  to  the  war.  The  women  cheered  them  on,  the  women  whose 
task  was  harder  than  the  task  of  the  husbands,  of  the  lovers,  of 
the  fathers,  of  the  sons  they  sent  to  battle.  For  four  years  they 
fought  until  the  ultimate  triumph  came  to  crown  the  effort,  the 
long  weary  months  of  waiting  and  disappointment,  the  bitter  hours 
of  failure,  the  anguish  of  defeat — the  triumphs  came,  and  those 
men  of  '61,  the  men  who  wore  the  blue,  left  us  a  reunited  country 
and  the  right  of  brotherhood  with  the  sons  of  the  men  who  wore 
the  gray.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  So  that  now  every  American  can 
glory  alike  in  the  valiant  deeds  done  by  all  Americans,  Northern 
or  Southern,  who  in  that  great  hour  of  strife  did  their  duty  as 
the  light  was  given  them  severally  to  see  that  duty.  (Applause.) 

If  our  fathers  had  preferred  ease  to  effort,  if  they  had  been 
content  to  say:  "Go  in  peace;  we  would  prefer  that  the  Union 
were  kept,  but  we  are  not  willing  to  pay  the  price  in  blood  and 
effort  of  keeping  it;"  if  they  had  done  that  there  is  not  a  man 
or  woman  in  this  hall  who  would  now  walk  with  head  erect,  who 
would  now  have  the  right  to  feel  as  we  have  the  right  to  feel 
that  we  challenge  equality  with  the  citizens  of  the  proudest 
country  that  the  world  has  yet  seen.  I  ask  that  this  generation 
and  future  generations  strive  in  the  spirit  of  those  who  strove 
to  found  the  Republic,  of  those  who  strove  to  save  and  perpetuate 
it.  I  ask  that  this  nation  shape  its  policy  in  a  spirit  of  justice 
toward  all  and  a  spirit  of  resolute  endeavor  to  accept  each  duty 

[,00] 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


as  the  duty  comes,  and  to  rest  ill-content  until  that  duty  is  done. 
I  ask  that  we  meet  the  many  problems  with  which  we  are  con- 
fronted from  without  and  from  within,  not  in  the  spirit  that  seeks 
to  purchase  present  peace  by  the  certainty  of  future  disaster,  but 
with  a  wise,  a  fearless,  and  a  resolute  desire  to  make  of  this  na- 
tion in  the  end,  as  the  centuries  go  by,  the  example  for  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  to  make  of  it  a  nation  in  which  we  shall 
see  the  spirit  of  peace  and  of  justice  incarnate,  but  in  which  also 
we  shall  see  incarnate  the  spirit  of  courage,  of  hardihood,  the 
spirit  which  while  refusing  to  wrong  the  weak  is  incapable  of 
flinching  from  any  fear  of  the  strong.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[101] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS  AT  DEDICATION  OF  NAVY 
MEMORIAL  MONUMENT,  SAN  FRAN- 
CISCO, CALIFORNIA, 

MAY  14,190? 

MR.  MAYOR;  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS,  MEN   AND   WOMEN   OF   SAN 
FRANCISCO  : 

The  ground  for  this  monument  was  first  turned  by  President 
McKinley  (applause),  and  I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  say- 
ing a  few  words  in  dedication  of  the  completed  monument.  There 
is  no  branch  of  our  government  in  which  all  our  people  are  so 
deeply  interested  as  the  navy  of  the  United  States.  (Applause.) 
It  is  not  merely  San  Francisco,  not  merely  New  York,  or  Boston, 
or  Charleston,  or  New  Orleans,  not  merely  the  seacoast  cities  of 
the  nation;  every  individual  in  the  nation  who  is  proud  of 
America  and  jealous  of  her  good  name  must  feel  a  thrill  of  gen- 
erous emotion  at  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the  navy,  a  mon- 
ument to  the  fleet  which  was  victorious  under  Admiral  Dewey 
on  the  first  of  May,  five  years  ago,  a  fleet  which  then  added  a  new 
page  to  the  long  honor  roll  of  American  achievement.  (Applause.) 
It  is  eminently  fitting  that  there  should  be  here  in  this  great  city 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean  a  monument  to  commemorate  the  deed 
which  showed  once  for  all  that  America  had  taken  her  position 
on  the  Pacific.  I  want  you  all  to  draw  a  practical  lesson  from 
this  commemoration.  We  today  dedicate  this  monument  because 
those  who  went  before  us  had  the  wisdom  to  make  ready  for 
the  victory.  If  we  wish  our  children  to  have  the  chance  of 
dedicating  monuments  of  this  kind  in  the  event  of  war  we  must 
see  that  themavy  is  made  ready  in  advance.  (Applause.)  To  dedi- 
cate the  monument  would  be  an  empty  and  foolish  thing  if  we 
accompanied  it  by  an  abandonment  of  our  national  policy  of 
building  up  the  navy.  (Applause.)  And  good  though  it  is  to  erect 

[101] 


w 

H 

w 

2 

o 


2  PI 

f'e 

w   ^ 

V    73 
H    > 


B5 


o 

U 
W 
I 

a 

n 
O 

n 

H 
Z 

O 


I    UNIVERSITY 

OF 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


this  monument,  it  is  better  still  to  go  on  with  the  building  up  of 
the  navy  which  gave  the  monument  to  us,  and  which,  if  we  ever 
give  it  a  fair  chance,  can  be  relied  upon  to  rise  level  to  our  needs. 
(Applause.) 

Remember  that  after  the  war  has  begun  it  is  too  late  to  im- 
provise a  navy.  A  naval  war  is  two-thirds  settled  in  advance, 
at  least  two-thirds,  because  it  is  mainly  settled  by  the  preparation 
which  has  gone  on  for  years  preceding  its  outbreak.  We  won  at 
Manila  because  the  shipbuilders  of  the  country,  including  those 
here  at  Sari  Francisco,  under  the  wise  provisions  of  Congress, 
had  for  fifteen  years  before  been  preparing  the  navy.  In  1882 
our  navy  was  a  shame  and  a  disgrace  to  the  country  in  point  of 
material.  The  personnel  contained  as  fine  material  as  there  was 
to  be  found  in  the  world,  but  the  ships  and  the  guns  were*  as 
antiquated  as  if  they  had  been  the  galleys  of  Alcibiades,  and  it 
would  have  been  a  wicked  absurdity  to  have  sent  them  against 
the  ships  of  any  great  power.  Then  we  began  to  build  up  the 
navy.  Every  ship  that  fought  under  Dewey  had  been  built  be- 
tween 1883  and  1898.  We  come  here  as  patriots  remembering 
that  our  party Jines  stop  at  the  water's  edge.  That  fleet  was  suc- 
cessful in  1898  because  under  the  previous  administrations  of  both 
political  parties,  under  the  previous  Congress  controlled  by  both 
political  parties  for  the  previous  fifteen  years,  there  had  been  a 
resolute  effort  to  build  adequate  ships  and  see  that  they  were 
practiced.  The  ships  that  went  in  under  Dewey  had  been  con 
structed  under  different  successive  Secretaries  of  the  Navy,  and 
had  been  provided  for  by  different  successive  Congresses  of  the 
United  States.  Not  one  of  them  had  been  built  less  than  two 
years,  some  of  them  fourteen  years.  We  could  not  have  begun 
to  fight  that  battle  if  we  had  not  been  for  so  many  years  making 
ready  the  navy. 

The  last  Congress  has  taken  greater  strides  than  any  previous 
Congress  in  making  ready  the  navy,  but  it  will  be  two  or  three 
years  before  the  effects  are  seen.  In  no  branch  of  the  government 
is  foresight  ind  the  carrying  out  of  a  steady  and  continuous  pol- 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 

icy  so  necessary  as  in  the  navy;  and  you,  citizens  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, of  California,  and  all  our  citizens  should  make  it  a  matter 
of  prime  duty  to  see  that  there  is  no  halt  in  that  work,  that  the 
next  Congress,  and  the  Congress  after  that,  and  the  Congress 
after  that,  go  right  on  with  providing  formidable  warcraft  whose 
hammering  guns  beat  out  destiny  on  the  high  seas,  with  provid- 
ing the  officers,  with  providing  the  men,  and  with  providing  the 
means  of  training  them  in  peace  to  be  effective  in  war.  The  best 
ships  and  the  best  guns  do  not  count  unless  they  are  handled 
aright  and  aimed  aright,  and  the  best  men  cannot  thus  handle 
the  one  nor  aim  the  other  if  they  do  not  have  ample  practice. 
Our  people  must  be  trained  in  handling  our  ships  in  squadrons 
on  the  high  seas.  Our  people  on  the  ships  must  be  trained  by 
actual  practice  to  do  their  duty  in  conning  tower,  in  the  engine 
rooms,  in  the  gun  turrets.  The  shots  that  count  in  battle  are  the 
shots  that  hit,  and  only  those.  (Applause.) 

We  have  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  rapid  increase  in  ac- 
curacy in  marksmanship  of  the  navy  in  recent  years,  and  I  con- 
gratulate Admiral  Glass  and  those  under  him  and  all  our  naval 
officers  who  are  taking  their  part  so  well  in  perfecting  that  work, 
and  I  congratulate  the  enlisted  men  of  the  navy  upon  the  extraor- 
dinary improvement  in  marksmanship  shown  by  the  gun  pointers. 
(Applause.) 

Applaud  the  navy  and  what  it  has  done.  That  is  first-class. 
But  make  your  applause  count  by  seeing  that  the  good  work  goes 
on.  Besides  applauding  now  see  to  it  that  the  navy  is  so  built 
up  that  the  men  of  the  next  generation  will  have  something  to 
applaud  also.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


I  104] 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS  AT 

THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 
BERKELEY,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  14,  1903 

PRESIDENT    WHEELER,    FELLOW-MEMBERS    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY: 
(Applause.) 

Last  night,  in  speaking  to  one  of  my  new  friends  in  California, 
he  told  me  that  he  thought  enough  had  been  said  to  me  about 
the  fruits  and  flowers;  that  enough  had  been  said  to  me  about 
California  being  an  Eden,  and  that  he  wished  I  would  pay  some 
attention  to  Adam  as  well.  Much  though  I  have  been  interested 
in  the  wonderful  physical  beauty  of  this  wonderful  State,  1  have 
been  infinitely  more  interested  in  its  citizenship,  and  perhaps  most 
injts  citizenship,  in  the  making. 

« When  I  come  to  the  University  of  California  and  am  greeted 
by  its  President  I  am  greeted  by  an  old  and  valued  friend,  a  friend 
whom  I  have  not  merely  known  socially  but  upon  whom,  while 
I  was  Governor  of  New  York,  I  leaned  often  for  advice  and  as- 
sistance in  the  problems  with  which  I  had  to  deal.  (Applause.) 
And  when  he  accepted  your  offer  I  grudged  him  to  you.  (Ap- 
plause.) And  it  was  not  until  I  came  here,  not  until  I  have  seen 
you,  that  I  have  been  fully  reconciled  to  the  loss.  But  now  I  am, 
for  I  can  conceive  of  no  happier  life  for  any  man  to  lead  to  whom 
life  means  what  it  should  mean,  than  the  life  of  the  President  of 
this  great  University.  (Applause.)"/ 

This  same  friend  last  night  suggested  to  me  a  thought  that 
I  intend  to  work  out  in  speaking  to  you  today.  We  were  talking 
over  the  University  of  California,  and  from  that  we  spoke  of  the 
general  educational  system  of  our  country.  Facts  tend  to  become 
commonplace,  and  we  tend  to  lose  sight  of  tEeir  importance  when 
once  they  become  ingrained  into  the  life  of  the  nation.  Although 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 

J^*  we  talk  a  &°°d  deal  about  v^hat  the  widespread  education  of  this 
country  means,  I  question  if  many  of  us  deeply  consider  its  mean- 
ing. From  the  lowest  grade  of  the  public  school  to  the  highest 
form  of  university  training,  education  in  this  country  is  at  the 
disposal  of  every  man,  every  woman,  who  chooses  to  work  for 
and  obtain  it.  The  State  has  done  much,  very  much ;  witness  this 
university.  Private  benefaction  has  done  much,  very  much ;  wit- 
ness ,ajlsp  this  university.  (Applause.)  And  each  one  of  us  who  has 
obtained  an  education  has  obtained  something  for  which  he  or 
she  has  jipjt  personally  paid.  No  matter  what  the  school,  what 
the  university,  every  American  who  has  a  school  training,  a  uni- 
versity training,  has  obtained  something  given  to  him  outright 
by  the  State^pr  given  to  him  by  those  dead"*6r  those  living  who 
were  able  to  make  provision  for  that  training  because  of  the 
protection  of  the  State,  because  of  existence  within  its  borders. 
Each  one  of  us  then  who  has  an  education,  school  or  college,  has 
obtained  something  from  the  community  at  large  for  which  he  or 
she  has  not  paid,  'and  no  self-respecting  man  or  woman  is  content 
to  test  permanently  under  such  an  obligation.  Where  the  State 
has  bestowed  education  the  man  who  accepts  it  must  be  content 
to  accept  it  merely  as  a  charity  unless  he  returns  it  to  the  State 
in  full,  in  the  shape  of  good  citizenship.  (Applause.)  I  do  not 
ask  of  you, (men  and  women  here  today,  \good  citizenship  as  a 
favor  to  the  State.  I  demand  it  of  you  as  a  tight,  and  hold  you 
recreant  to  your  duty  if  you  fail  to  give  it.  (Applause.) 

Here  you  are  in  this  university,  in  this  State  with  its  won- 
derful climate,  which  is  going  to  permit  to  people  of  a  Northern 
stock  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  that  Northern  stock  to 
gain  education  under  physical  circumstances,  in  physical  sur- 
roundings, somewhat  akin  to  those  which  surrounded  the  early 
Greeks.  Here  you  have  all  those  advantages  and  you  are  not 
to  be  excused  if  you  do  not  show  in  tangible  fashion  your  ap- 
preciation of  them  and  your  power  to  give  practical  effect  to  that 
appreciation.  From  all  our  citizens  we  have  a  right  to  expect 
good  citizenship;  but  most  of  all  from  those  who  have  received 

[,06] 


DEDICATING  MONUMENT,  UNION  SQUARE  MAY  14, 1903.    ERECTED 

BY  THE  CITIZENS  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE 

VICTORY  OK  THE  AMERICAN  NAVY  AT  MANILA  BAY, 

MAY  i,  1898. 


ON  MAY  23, 1901,  THE  GROUND  FOR  THIS  MONUMENT  WAS  BROKEN 
BY  PRESIDENT  WILLIAM  MCKINLEY. 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


most;  most  of  all  from  those  who  have  had  the  training  of  body, 
of  mind,  of  soul,  which  comes  from  association  in  and  with  a 
great  university.  To  those  to  whom  much  has  been  given  we 
have  Biblical  authority  to  expect  and  demand  much  in  return; 
and  the  most  that  can  be  given  to  any  man  is  education.  I  ex- 
pect and  demand  in  the  name  of  the  nation  much  more  from  you 
who  have  had  training  of  the  mind  than  from  those  of  mere 
wealth.  To  the  man  of  means  much  has  been  given,  too,  and 
much  will  be  expected  from  him,  and  ought  to  be,  but  not  as 
much  as  from  you,  because  your  possession  is  more  valuable  than 
his.  (Applause.)  If  you  envy  him  I  think  poorly  of  you.  (Ap- 
plause.) Envy  is  merely  the  meanest  form  of  admiration,  and  a 
man  who  envies  another  admits  thereby  his  own  inferiority.  We 
have  a  right  to  expect  from  the  college  bred  man,  the  college  bred 
woman,  a  proper  sense  of  proportion,  a  proper  sense  of  perspec- 
tive, which  will  enable  him  or  her  to  see  things  in  their  right  re- 
lation one  to  another,  and  when  thus  seen  while  wealth  will  have 
a  proper  place,  a  just  place,  as  an  instrument  for  achieving  happi- 
ness and  power,  Jor  conferring  happiness  and  power,  'it  will  not 
stand  as  high  as  much  else  in  our  national  life.  I  ask  you  to  take 
that  not  as  a  conventional  statement  from  the  university  platform, 
but  to  test  it  by  thinking  of  the  men  whom  you  admire  in  our 
past  history  and  seeing  what  are  the  qualities  which  have  made 
you  admire  them,  what  are  the  services  they  have  rendered.  For 
as  President  Wheeler  said  today,  it  is  true  now  as  it  ever  has  been 
true  that  the  greatest  good  fortune,  the  greatest  honor,  that  can 
befall  any  man  is^that  he  shall  serve,  that  he  shall  serve  the  na- 
tion, serve  ^his  people,  serve  mankind  rj^fii  looking  back  in  history 
the  names  that  come  up  before  us,  tnTliames  to  which  we  turn, 
the  names  of  the  men  of  our  own  people  which  stand  as  shining 
honor  marks  in  our  annals,  the  names  of  those  men  typifying 
qualities  which  rightly  we  should  hold  in  reverence,  are  the  names 
of  the  statesmen,  of  the  soldiers,  of  the  poets— the  architects  of 
our  material  prosperity  also,  but  only  also.  (Applause.)^ 
Of  recent  years  I  have  been  thrown  in  contact  withlM&umber 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


of  college  graduates  doing  good  service  to  the  country,  and  as 
I  wish  to  make  it  perfectly  evident  what  I  mean  by  the  kind  of 
service  which  I  should  hope  to  have  from  you  and  which  it  seems 
to  me  worth  while  to  render,  I  want  to  say  just  a  word  about  two 
college  graduates  who  have  during  the  last  five  years  rendered 
and  are  now  rendering  such  services:  Governor  Taft  in  the 
Philippines,  and  Brigadier-General  Leonard  Wood,  lately  Gover- 
nor of  Cuba.  ( Applause. )'j]When  we  acquired  the  Philippines  and 
took  possession  for  the  time  being  of  Cuba  to  train  its  people  in 
citizenship,  we  assumed  heavy  responsibilities ;  so  heavy  that  some 
very  excellent  people  thought  we  ought  to  shirk  them.  I  hold 
that  a  great  and  masterful  people  forfeits  its  title  to  greatness  if 
it  shirks  any  work  because  that  work  is  difficult  and  responsible. 
(Applause.)  The  difficulty  and  responsibility  impose  upon  us 
the  high  duty  of  doing  the  work  well,  but  they  in  no  way  ex- 
cuse us  for  refusing  to  do  it.  We  had  to  do  the  work  and  the 
question  came  of  the  choice  of  instruments  in  doing  it.  The 
most  important  and  most  difficult  task  after  the  establishment  of 
order  by  the  army  in  the  Philippines  was  the  establishment  of 
civil  government  therein;  and  second  only  in  importance  to 
that  came  the  administration  of  Cuba,  during  the  three  years 
and  over  that  elapsed  before  we  were  able  to  turn  its  govern- 
ment over  to  its  own  people  and  start  it  as  a  free  republic. 
When  tasks  are  all-important  the  most  important  factor  in  doing 
them  right  is  the  choice  of  the  agents;  and  among  the  many 
debts  of  gratitude  which  this  nation  owes  to  President  Mc- 
Kinley  (applause),  no  debt  is  greater  than  the  debt  we  owe 
him  for  the  choice  of  his  instruments,  such  a  choice  as  that  of 
Taft,  such  a  choice  as  that  of  Wood.  (Applause.)  We  sent 
Taft  to  the  Philippines;  we  sent  Wood  to  Cuba;  both  of  them 
as  tested  by  the  standard  of  our  commercial  life,  poor  men; 
each  man  with  little  more  than  his  salary  to  keep  himself  and 
his  family;  each  man  to  handle  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars, 
to  have  the  power  by  mere  conniving  at  what  was  improper  to 
acquire  untold  wealth — and  sent  them  knowing  that  we  did  not 

[,08] 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


ever  have  to  consider  whether  such  opportunities  would  be 
temptations  toward  them;  sent  them  knowing  that  they  had  the 
ideals  of  the  American  college-bred  man  and  that,  therefore,  we 
did  not  have  to  consider  the  chance  of  a  possible  temptation 
appealing  to  themj 

Taft  has  gone  to  the  Philippines  to  stay  there;  not  only  for- 
feiting thereby  the  certainty  of  brilliant  rise  in  his  profession 
on  the  bench  or  at  the  bar  here  if  he  had  stayed,  but  at  imminent 
risk  to  his  own  health,  because  he  felt  that  his  duty  as  an  Amer- 
ican made  him  go ;  that,  as  President  McKinley  told  me  of  him, 
he  had  been  drafted  into  the  service  of  the  country  and  he  could 
not  honorably  refuse.  (Applause.)  We  have  seen  in  conse- 
quence the  Philippine  Islands  administered  by  the  American 
official  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  government  and  by  his  col- 
leagues  in  the  interest  primarily  of  their  people,  and  seeking 
to  obtain  for  the  United  States,  for  the  dominant  race,  that 
spent  its  blood  and  its  treasure  in  making  firm  and  stable  the 
government  of  those  islands — seeking  to  obtain  for  that  dominant 
race  only  the  reward  that  comes  from  the  consciousness  of  duty 
well  done.£~( Applause.)  Under  Taft,  by  and  through  his  ef- 
forts, not  only  have  peace  and  material  well-being  come  to  those 
islands  to  a  degree  never  before  known  in  their  recorded  history, 
and  to  a  degree  infinitely  greater  than  had  ever  been  dreamed 
possible  by  those  who  knew  them  best,  but  more  than  that,  a 
greater  measure  of  self-government  has  been  given  to  them 
than  is  now  given  to  any  other  Asiatic  people  under  alien  rule, 
than  to  any  other  Asiatic  people  under  their  own  rulers,  save 
Japan  alone.  That  is  an  achievement  of  the  past  five  years 
which  I  hold  to  be  absolutely  unparalleled  in  history;  and  when 
the  debit  and  credit  side  of  our  national  life  is  finally  made  up 
a  long  stroke  shall  be  put  to  the  credit  side  for  what  has  been 
done  in  the  Philippines  under  Taft  and  his  associates.  / 

In  the  same  way  Leonard  Wood  worked  in  CubaT  J?ut  down 
there  to  do  an  absolutely  new  task,  to  take  a  people  of  a  different 
race,  a  different  speech,  a  different  creed,  a  people  just  emerging 

[to,] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


from  the  hideous  welter  of  a  war,  cruel  and  sanguinary,  beyond 
what  we  in  this  fortunate  country  cannot  readily  conceive,  to 
take  a  people  down  in  the  depths  of  poverty,  in  the  depths  of 
misery,  just  recovering  Irom  suffering  which  it  makes  one  shud- 
der to  think  of,  a  people  untrained  utterly  and  absolutely  in 
self-government,  and  fij  them  for  it;  and  he  tyd  it.  For  three 
years  he  worked.  [Tie  established  a  school  system  as  good  as  the 
best  that  we  have  in  any  of  our  States.  He  cleaned  cities  which 
had  never  been  cleaned  in  their  existence  before.  He  secured 
absolute  safety  for  life  and  property ."THe  did  the  kind  of  gov- 
ernmental work  which  should  be  the  undying  honor  of  our  people 
forever.  And  he  came  home  to  what?  He  came  home  to  be 
thanked  by  a  few,  to  be  attacked  by  others-^-not  to  their  credit—- 
and to  have  as  his  £gal  reward  the  sense  that  though  his  work 
had  been  done  at  pecuniary  sacrifice  to  him,  that  though  the 
demands  upon  him  had  been  such  as  to  eat  into  his  private 
means,  yet  he  had  worthily  and  well  done  his  duty  as  an  Ameri- 
can citizen  and  reflected  honor,  fresh  honor,  upon  the  uniform 
of  the  United  States  army.  (Applause.) 

I  have  chosen  'Jaft  and  Wood  simply  as  examples,  simply  as 
instances  of  what  other  men  by  the  hundred  have  done,  Amer- 
icans who  have  graduated  from  no  college,  Americans  who 
have  graduated  from  all  our  different  colleges,  and  especially 
by  practically  all  those  Americans  who  have  graduated  from 
the  two  great  tyj>ical  American  institutions  of  learning — West 
Point  and  Annapolis.  Taft  and  Wood  and  their  fellows  are 
spending  or  have  spent  the  best  years  of  their  prime  in  doing  a 
work  which  means  to  them  pecuniary  loss,  at  the  best  a  bare 
livelihood  while  they  are  doing  it,/  and  are  doing  it  gladly  because 
they  realize  the  truth  that  the  highest  privilege  that  can  be 
given  to  any  man  is  the  privilege  of  serving  UJl..  c°41Sjiy»  his 
fellow-Americans.  (Applause.)  As  I  am  speaking  to  an  audi- 
ence with  proper  ideals,  when  I  say  that  Taft  and  Wood  have 
done  all  this  service  to  their  pecuniary  loss,  I  am  holding  them 
up  not  for  pity — for  envy.  The  least  mean  form  of  envy  is  the 

[no] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


envy  of  the  man  who  does  such  work  as  they  do.  Every  one 
here,  every  man,  every  woman,  should  feel  it  incumbent  upon 
him  or  her  to  welcome  with  joy  the  chance  to  render  service 
to  the  country,  service  to  our  people  at  large,  and  to  accept  the 
rendering  of  the  service  as  in  itself  ample  repayment  therefor. 
Do  not  misunderstand  me.  The  average  man,  the  average  woman 
must  earn  his  or  her  living  in  one  way  or  another,  and  I  most 
emphatically  do  not  advise  any  one  to  decline  to  do  the  humdrum, 
everyday  duties  because  there  may  come  a  chance  for  the  display 
of  heroism.  ^  Let  me  just  tell  you  one  anecdote,  then  I  am 
through.  When  I  raised  my  regiment  prior  to  going  to  Cuba 
we  had  recruits  from  every  portion  of  the  country  in  it,  some 
of  them  without  a  very  clear  idea  of  what  was  ahead  of  them. 
I  had  one  young  man,  full  of  enthusiasm,  who  about  the  third 
day  came  to  me  and  said:  "Colonel,  I  came  down  here  to  fight 
for  my  country;  they  have  treated  me  like  a  serf;  they  have 
put  me  to  burying  a  dead  horse."  (Laughter.)  At  that  moment 
his  Captain,  who  was  a  large  man  from  New  Mexico,  and  not 
wholly  sympathetic,  came  up  and  explained  to  him  that  he  would 
go  right  on  burying  that  dead  horse  and  that  the  next  task  ahead 
of  him  was  digging  kitchen  sinks ;  and  if  he  did  all  that  well 
we  would  attend  to  the  hero  business  later. 

I  ask  of  you  the  straightforward,  earnest  performance  of  duty 
in  all  the  little  things  that  come  up  day  by  day  in  business,  in 
domestic  life,  in  every  way,  and  then  when  the  opportunity  comes, 
if  you  have  thus  done  your  duty  in  the  lesser  things,  I  know 
you  will  rise  level  to  the  heroic, needs.,.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


[,„] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS    AT 
*  OAKLAND,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  14,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS,  MEN  AND  WOMEN 
OF  OAKLAND: 

It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  come  into  your  beautiful  city 
(applause)  ;  and  it  could  not  but  stir  any  man's  heart  to  be 
greeted  as  you  have  greeted  me.  (Applause.)  I  am  glad  in- 
deed to  see  you,  to  see  the  men,  the  women,  and  the  children. 
(Applause.)  As  I  drove  through  your  beautiful  streets  I  passed 
by  one  house  where  there  was  a  large  family  party  assembled, 
and  they  had  a  strip  of  bunting  and  printed  on  it  were  the  words : 
"No  Race  Suicide  Here;"  and  I  got  up  and  bowed  my  acknowl- 
edgments and  congratulations.  I  have  been  delighted,  passing 
through  your  streets,  to  be  greeted  by  the  children.  They  seem 
all  right  in  quality  and  all  right  in  quantity.  (Applause.) 

My  fellow-citizens,  I  have  enjoyed  to  the  utmost  my  stay  in 
California,  my  visits  to  its  greatest  cities ;  I  have  appreciated  your 
wonderful  scenery,  your  wonderful  climate;  but  most  of  all 
have  I  enjoyed  meeting  your  men  and  women.  It  is  a  great 
thing  to  have  such  agricultural  products,  such  industrial  pros- 
perity, as  I  have  seen  here;  but  it  is  a  greater  thing  to  have  the 
right  type  of  citizenship.  (Applause.) 

In  thanking  all  of  you  for  your  greeting  I  am  sure  that  the 
others  will  not  mind  my  saying  a  special  word  of  greeting  to  two 
sets  of  men— first  of  all  to  the  service  men  of  the  Spanish-Amer- 
ican War.  (Applause.)  I  came  aboard  to  be  ferried  over  your 
bay  today  on  the  dock  from  which  the  great  majority  of  our 
soldiers  went  to  the  Philippines.  I  have  seen  by  the  shores  of 
this  bay  the  place  where  the  Eighth  Corps  was  assembled,  the 
Eighth  Corps  which  numbered  successively  almost  a  hundred 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

thousand  men,  so  many  of  whom  came  from  your  own  Coast, 
your  own  State.  As  I  saw  my  escort,  the  service  men  of  the 
Spanish  War,  marching  in  the  familiar  gray  campaign  hat,  blue 
shirt,  khaki  trousers  and  leggings,  I  was  glad  that  I  had  the 
right  of  comradeship  with  them  (applause),  and  that  I  was  one 
of  those  to  whom  by  good  fortune  it  was  given  to  have  the 
chance  to  show  that  at  least  we  desired  to  do  as  the  men  of 
the  great  war  had  done  from  '61  to  '65.  Wherever  I  have  been 
in  California  I  have  been  greeted  by  men  who  wear  the  button 
that  shows  that,  like  the  chief  executive  of  this  city,  in  the 
times  that  tried  men's  souls  they  were  true  to  their  ideals.  (Ap- 
plause.) Now  I  greet  you  here.  I  have  not  got  much  to  say  to 
you,  because  since  I  have  been  in  California  I  have  felt  a  good 
deal  more  like  learning  than  teaching;  indeed,  my  fellow-citizens, 
there  have  been  moments  when  I  have  felt  that  the  only  thing 
that  marred  my  visit  was  the  fact  that  I  had  to  speak.  But 
I  am  glad  to  say  just  this  word  to  you,  to  greet  you,  to  express 
the  pleasure  it  has  been  to  me  to  come  here,  and  finally  to  say 
this:  I  have  come  from  the  Atlantic  across  the  continent  to  the 
Pacific;  I  have  come  from  the  East  through  the  West,  beyond 
the  West,  to  California  (applause)  ;  for  California  stands  by 
itself;  and  from  one  end  of  this  country  to  the  other,  address- 
ing any  audience,  I  have  felt  absolutely  at  home ;  I  have  felt  that 
I  was  speaking  to  men  and  women  who  felt  as  I  did  and  thought 
as  I  did,  to  whom  I  could  appeal  with  the  certainty  of  being 
understood;  because  wherever  I  have  spoken  I  have  addressed 
audiences  like  this,  audiences  composed  of  Americans  and  noth- 
ing else.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 

Great  is  your  State,  oh  my  fellow-citizens;  great  is  your 
State,  men  and  women  of  California,  and  a  great  thing  it  is  to 
be  a  Californian;  but  it  is  even  a  greater  thing  to  be  what  all 
of  us  are — Americans,  the  citizens  of  the  greatest  republic  upon 
which  the  sun  has  ever  shone.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS  TO  THE  SERVICE  MEN  OF  THE 
SPANISH  WAR,  WHO  ACTED  AS  HIS 
ESCORT  AT  OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA 

MAY  14,  1903 

Afloat  and  ashore,  nothing  could  have  pleased  me  more  than 
to  have  you  turn  out  to  be  my  escort  today;  to  see  the  familiar 
gray  hat,  blue  shirt,  khaki  trousers  and  leggings,  I  feel  as  if  I 
was  at  home  with  you.  I  see  men  who  served  in  the  cavalry 
(I  was  a  yellow-leg  myself),  infantry  and  artillery.  I  wish  to 
state  that  it  made  me  proud  as  I  looked  at  you,  and  I  appreciate 
your  coming  out,  and  now,  as  each  one  of  you  goes  back  into 
civil  life,  let  you  and  me  resolve  that  we  will  do  our  part,  in 
the  first  place  to  see  that  the  standard  of  citizenship  is  kept 
up,  and  in  the  next  place  that  the  average  American  citizen 
understands  what  a  good  man  our  brother,  the  army  and  navy 
man,  officer  and  enlisted  man  of  the  regular  service,  was  and 
is.  (Cheers.) 


["4] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS  TO  THE  VETERANS  WHO  ES- 
CORTED HIM  TO  THE  DOCK  AT  OAK- 
LAND, CALIFORNIA 

MAY  14,  i9°3 

MY  COMRADES  OF  THE  GREAT  WAR: 

I  wish  to  thank  you  for  the  privilege.  These  are  the  only 
bodies  of  men  to  whom  it  gives  me  even  greater  pleasure  to 
pay  greeting  than  to  my  own  comrades  of  the  lesser  war.  Pleased 
though  I  was  to  have  the  service  men  of  the  war  parade  as 
my  escort,  looking  so  familiar  in  the  uniform  that  I  knew  so 
well,  yet  it  is  an  even  greater  pleasure  to  be  greeted  by  you 
whose  example  we  endeavored  to  follow,  and  the  memories  of 
whose  deeds  must  forever  be  to  all  Americans  a  source  of  in- 
spiration to  duty,  whether  it  be  in  war  or  in  peace.  (Cheers 
and  applause.) 


C»s] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  LAYING  OF  THE  COR- 
NER-STONE OF  THE  Y.  M.  C.  A.  AUX- 
ILIARY CLUBHOUSE,  VALLEJO,  CALI- 
FORNIA 

MAY  14,  1903 

MRS.  MCCALLA,  AND  You,  MY  FELLO w- CITIZENS  : 

I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  taking  part  in  these  cere- 
monies, for  no  worthier  object  can  be  striven  after  than  the 
creation  of  a  building  such  as  this  for  the  benefit  of  those  to 
whom  every  American  owes  so  much — the"  enlisted  men  of  the 
United  States  navy.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  I  wish  here  to 
relate  something  told  me  yesterday  by  Secretary  Moody,  which 
shows  the  spirit  that  actuates  the  men  of  our  navy.  In  visiting 
the  hospital  at  Mare  Island  yesterday  Secretary  Moody  found 
that  there  was  a  little  library  of  two  hundred  standard  novels, 
and  a  sum  of  money  with  interest  amounting  to  $30  a  year  to  be 
spent  on  magazines,  all  for  the  use  of  the  patients,  for  the  use 
of  the  enlisted  men  in  that  hospital,  and  he  found  that  that 
was  due  to  the  action  of  a  man  now  dead,  who  had  served 
twenty-five  years  in  the  United  States  navy,  had  become  a 
boatswain,  and  when  he  died  had  left  all  his  small  savings  to 
be  thus  devoted  in  perpetuity  to  the  use  of  his  fellows  who 
should  need  the  hospital  thereafter.  His  name  was  Alexander 
White,  and  Secretary  Moody  told  me  he  intended  to  find  out 
where  he  was  buried  and  put  a  fitting  stone  over  him  if  he  had  to 
pay  for  it  himself.  (Applause.)  That  is  the  spirit  of  devotion 
to  the  flag  and  the  country,  and  to  one's  fellows  which  the 
United  States  navy  develops. 

I  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  the  men  who  work 
in  the  Navy  Yard  for  the  quality  of  the  work  that  they  do. 

[II*] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


(Cheers  and  applause.)  It  has  been  a  pleasure  to  hear  from 
Admiral  Miller  as  we  came  up  on  the  torpedo  boat  the  kind 
of  service  rendered  by  those  engaged  in  the  actual  labor  in 
the  yard.  I  want  to  emphasize  what  we  can  never  over-empha- 
size, that  the  credit  for  any  victory  must  lie  exactly  as  much 
with  those  who  prepare  for  it  as  with  those  who  win  it.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Today  I  have  dedicated  the  monument  to  those  who  won  the 
battle  of  Manila  Bay.  That  monument  is  in  reality  dedicated  just 
as  much  to  the  men  who  in  any  degree  helped  make  ready  the 
ships  for  that  battle,  to  the  Congressmen  who  voted  the  ap- 
propriations;  and  those  who  did  not,  by  the  way,  have  no  right 
to  any  share  whatever  in  the  credit  attached  to  the  nation  for 
that  day,  to  the  Congressmen  who  voted  the  appropriations,  to 
the  Cabinet  officials  and  their  subordinates,  the  heads  of  the 
bureaus  in  the  Navy  Department,  under  whom  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  directions  of  whom  the  money  was  expended, 
the  owners  of  the  private  shipyards,  to  the  men  who  worked 
in  the  private  shipyards  and  to  the  men  who  worked  in  the 
national  shipyards,  any  man  who  did  his  part  at  any  stage  in 
preparing  the  hulls,  the  engines,  the  armor,  the  guns  of  those 
ships,  and  all  men  who  took  part  in  training  the  crews  aboard 
them,  the  men  in  the  engine  rooms,  the  men  at  the  guns,  in 
fitting  them  for  service,  to  all  alike  some  portion  of  the  credit 
of  the  victory  is  due.  Let  me  repeat  what  I  said  this  morning. 
I  am  glad  that  we  have  the  chance  to  erect  a  monument  to 
commemorate  a  naval  victory  of  the  United  States,  and  let  us 
see  to  it  that  our  children  have  the  chance  to  erect  a  similar 
monument,  should  the  need  arise,  in  their  turn.  In  other  words, 
let  us  see  to  it  that  the  work  of  building  up  the  United  States 
navy  goes  on  without  a  halt.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 

I  thank  those  who  have  provided  for  the  building  of  this  in- 
stitution. When  a  war  comes  I  think  a  heavier  burden  is  laid 
upon  the  women  whose  sons  and  husbands,  fathers  and  lovers 
have  gone  to  the  war  than  upon  the  men  who  go.  It  was  cer- 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 

tainly  so  in  the  Civil  War,  where  the  woman  was  left  at  home 
with  the  breadwinner  gone,  to  face  often  need  as  well  as  the 
anxiety  for  his  safety;  and  it  is  but  a  further  debt  we  owe  now 
for  the  building  of  institutions  of  this  kind.  They  do  incalcula- 
ble good.  I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  has  done,  any  one 
work  of  benevolence  of  the  same  extent  which  was  better  worth 
doing  than  that  done  by  Miss  Helen  Gould  when  she  erected 
a  building  similar  to  this  in  the  New  York  Navy  Yard;  and 
I  am  glad  to  have  had  the  chance  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of 
this  building  today.  I  thank  you  for  coming  to  greet  me.  I 
thank  especially  my  own  comrades  of  the  Spanish- American 
War,  those  who  fought  in  that  war,  and  those  by  whose  example 
we  profited — the  men  of  the  Great  War,  the  men  who  have  left 
to  this  country  a  heritage  of  honor  and  glory  forever.  (Cheers 
and  applause.) 


[  118 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  BANQUET  TENDERED 
HIM  BY  THE  UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB  OF 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA 

MAY  14, 1903 
MR.      TOASTMASTER,     AND     YOU,     MY     FELLOW- MEMBERS     OF     THE 

UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB:     (Cheers  and  applause.) 

Let  me  say  in  all  sincerity,  Mr.  Davis,  that  you  have  ex- 
pressed far  better  than  I  could  express  (and  I  mean  it)  what 
I  hold  to  be  essential  in  American  citizenship.  (Applause.)  It 
was  a  privilege,  sir,  to  be  greeted  by  you  as  you  have  greeted 
me  tonight.  No  one  can  too  strongly  insist  upon  the  elementary 
fact  that  you  cannot  build  the  superstructure  of  public  virtue 
save  on  private  virtue.  (Applause.)  The  sum  of  the  parts  is 
the  whole,  and  if  we  wish  to  make  that  whole,  the  State,  decent, 
the  representative  and  exponent  and  symbol  of  decency,  it  must 
be  so  made  through  the  decency,  public  and  private,  of  the 
average  citizen.  Mr.  Davis  was  quite  safe  in  saying  he  hoped 
I  had  enjoyed  my  stay  in  San  Francisco.  I  should  indeed  be 
ungrateful,  unappreciative,  if  I  were  not  deeply  touched  and 
moved  by  the  way  in  which  the  people  of  San  Francisco  have 
received  me;  and  I  have  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  two  days  and 
a  half  I  have  spent  here.  I  have  enjoyed  it  all  and  I  have 
enjoyed  no  part  more,  General  Mac  Arthur,  than  my  ride  down 
the  line,  reviewing  the  troops  with  you.  (Applause.) 

Californians  are  good  Americans,  and  therefore  it  is  not 
necessary  to  appeal  to  them  on  behalf  of  the  army  and  the  navy, 
v Applause.)  I  shall  not  detain  you  long  this  evening.  I  am 
promised  by  Colonel  Pippy  the  chance,  after  my  speech,  of 
meeting  and  shaking  hands  with  each  of  you,  in  the  rooms  of 
the  Club.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  I  have  just  got  two  thoughts, 

["9] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


not  connected  together,  to  which  I  want  to  give  utterance  tonight ; 
one  suggested  by  something  that  Mr.  Davis  said. 

It  is  absolutely  essential,  if  we  are  to  have  the  proper  standard 
of  public  life,  that  promise  shall  be  square  with  performance. 
A  lie  is  no  more  to  be  excused  in  politics  than  out  of  politics. 
(Cheers  and  applause,  long  continued.) 

A  promise  is  as  binding  on  the  stump  as  off  the  stump,  and 
there  are  two  facets  to  that  crystal.  In  the  first  place,  the  man 
who  makes  a  promise  which  he  does  not  intend  to  keep  and 
does  not  try  to  keep  should  rightly  be  adjudged  to  have  forfeited 
in  some  degree  what  should  be  every  man's  most  precious 
possession — his  honor.  (Applause.)  On  the  other  hand,  the 
public  that  exacts  a  promise  which  ought  not  to  be  kept,  or 
which  cannot  be  kept,  is  by  just  so  much  forfeiting  its  right  to 
self-government.  (Applause.)  There  is  no  surer  way  of  de- 
stroying the  capacity  for  self-government  in  a  people  than  to 
accustom  that  people  to  demanding  the  impossible  or  the  im- 
proper from  its  public  men.  No  man  fit  to  be  a  public  man 
will  promise  either  the  impossible  or  the  improper;  and  if  the 
demand  is  made  that  he  shall  do  so  it  means  putting  a  premium 
upon  the  unfit  in  public  life.  (Great  applause.) 

There  is  the  same  sound  reason  for  distrusting  the  man  who 
promises  too  much  in  public  that  there  is  for  distrusting  the 
man  who  promises  too  much  in  private  business.  If  you  meet 
a  doctor  who  asserts  that  he  has  a  specific  remedy  that  will 
cure  all  the  ills  to  which  human  flesh  is  heir,  distrust  him. 
He  hasn't  got  it.  If  you  meet  the  business  man  who  vociferates 
that  he  is  always  selling  everything  to  you  at  a  loss,  and  you 
continue  to  deal  with  him,  I  am  glad  if  you  suffer  for  it.  (Ap- 
plause.) Any  man  who  promises  as  a  result  of  legislation  or 
administration  the  millennium  is  making  a  promise  which  he  will 
find  difficulty  in  keeping.  Any  man  who  asserts  that  by  any 
law  it  will  be  possible,  out  of  hand,  to  make  all  humanity  good 
and  wise,  is  again  promising  what  he  cannot  perform.  It  is 
indispensable  that  we  should  have  good  laws  and  upright  and 

[**•] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

honest  and  fearless  administration  of  the  laws;  and  we  are  not 
to  be  excused  if  we  fail  to  hold  our  public  men  to  a  rigid  ac- 
countability if  they  fail,  in  their  turn,  to  see  that  we  have 
proper  legislation  and  proper  administration.  No  public  man 
worth  his  salt  will  be  other  than  glad  to  be  held  accountable 
in  that  fashion.  (Applause.) 

But  important  though  the  law  is,  though  the  administration 
of  the  law  is,  we  can  never  escape  having  to  face  the  fundamental 
truth  that  neither  begins  to  be  of  the  decisive  importance  that 
the  average  individual's  character  is.  In  the  last  analysis  it  is 
the  man's  own  character  which  is  and  must  ever  be  the  deter- 
mining factor  in  his  success  or  failure  in  life  (applause),  and 
therefore  in  the  last  analysis  it  is  the  average  character  of  the 
average  citizenship  of  a  nation  which  will  in  the  long  run  de- 
termine whether  that  nation  is  to  go  up  or  down.  (Applause.) 

The  one  indispensable  thing  for  us  to  keep  is  a  high  standard 
of  character  for  the  average  American  citizen.  (Applause.) 

Now  for  my  unrelated  second  thought,  and  that  is  to  reiterate 
something  that  I  said  this  morning.  I  had  the  very  great  pleas- 
ure of  dedicating  the  monument  to  Dewey's  fleet  for  its  victory 
at  Manila.  (Applause.)  We  today  were  enjoying  the  aftermath 
of  the  triumph,  due  in  part  to  what  Dewey  and  his  officers  and 
men  did  on  the  first  day  of  May,  five  years  ago,  and  in  even 
greater  part  to  what  those  men  did  who  in  the  past  fifteen  years 
had  prepared  for  the  winning  of  that  triumph.  (Applause.)  I 
have  very  great  confidence  in  the  capacity  of  our  average  soldier 
or  sailor  to  turn  out  well,  to  do  admirably  when  put  to  the 
supreme  test.  But  the  best  man  alive,  if  untrained,  if  unfitly 
armed,  may  be  beaten  by  a  poorer  man  who  has  had  the  training 
and  the  arms.  (Applause.)  There  is  nothing  more  foolish,  noth- 
ing less  dignified  than  to  indulge  in  boastfulness,  in  self-glorifi- 
cation as  to  the  capacity  of  our  soldiers  and  sailors  while  deny- 
ing them  the  material  which  we  are  in  honor  bound  to  give 
them  in  order  that  their  splendid  natural  qualities  shall  be  fitly 
supplemented.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  I  have  seen  our  people 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


send  American  volunteers  against  a  European  soldiery,  that 
European  soldiery  armed  with  the  finest  type  of  modern  rifle 
and  ours  with  an  old  black-powder  weapon,  which  was  about 
as  effective  as  a  medieval  cross  bow;  and  those  who  failed  to 
prepare  the  proper  weapons  for  our  people  are  not  to  be  thanked, 
because  by  making  drafts  of  an  extraordinary  kind  upon  the 
other  good  qualities  of  the  American  soldier,  we  escaped  dis- 
aster. (Applause.) 

And  who  were  those  who  failed  to  prepare?  It  is  very  easy 
and  worse  than  foolish,  it  is  wicked,  to  hold  the  people  who  at 
the  moment  are  obliged  to  use  those  weapons  responsible  when 
the  real  responsibility  lay  with  the  representatives  of  our  people 
and  our  people  themselves  for  failing  to  make  the  preparation 
in  advance.  (Applause.) 

The  business  of  finding  a  scapegoat  to  send  loose  into  the 
wilderness  is  neither  honorable  nor  dignified  for  a  self-respecting 
people  to  be  engaged  in.  (Applause.)  We  commemorated  today 
by  a  monument  a  great  naval  victory.  We  commemorated  there- 
by the  foresight,  the  prudence  of  the  public  men,  of  the  great 
business  men,  of  the  shipwrights,  the  men  who  worked  physi- 
cally at  the  armor,  the  guns,  the  engines,  the  hulls,  in  getting  the 
fleet  ready;  and,  more  than  that,  we  commemorated  the  men 
who  trained  that  fleet  in  readiness.  Many  an  officer  who  was 
retired  before  the  Spanish  War  came  is  entitled  to  his  full  share 
of  the  credit  for  what  was  done  in  that  war,  although  he  never 
saw  it,  because  he  had  done  his  part  in  actual  sea  service  in 
training  the  men  to  handle  the  mighty  and  delicate  weapons  of 
war  intrusted  to  their  care.  (Applause.) 

Every  public  man  who  by  his  vote  helped  to  make  efficient  that 
navy,  every  business  man,  every  wage-worker,  who  did  honest 
work  on  the  ships,  and  every  representative  of  the  navy,  officer 
or  enlisted  man,  who  in  the  years  before  the  war  faithfully  did 
his  duty  aboard  the  ships  in  fitting  crew  and  ship  for  the  test 
of  war,  is  entitled  to  a  portion  of  the  credit  of  the  victory  in 
Manila  Bay.  (Applause.) 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


So  it  is  with  the  army.  I  believe — no,  I  am  not  going  to  boast, 
and  so  I  am  going  to  say  a  little  less  than  I  think — I  shall  shift 
the  form  of  my  sentence  and  say  that  I  have  entire  confidence 
in  the  average  officer  and  average  enlisted  man  in  the  army 
of  the  United  States  (cheers  and  applause)  if  only  he  is  given 
any  kind  of  a  fair  chance,  but  give  him  good  weapons,  and  give 
him  a  chance  to  handle  them  and  to  handle  himself  so  as  to  be 
prepared  for  war.  The  best  man  alive,  if  he  is  given  no  chance 
to  practice,  cannot  be  expected  when  first  put  to  a  test  to  show 
his  abilities  at  their  best.  Give  us  a  chance  to  handle  our  men 
in  masses  in  time  of  peace.  Remember  that  if  you  scatter  the 
army  in  fifties  or  hundreds  all  over  the  country,  you  must  expect 
as  inevitable,  and  as  not  in  the  least  blameworthy  on  the  part 
•of  the  army,  trouble,  when  you  come  to  gather  them  together  as 
an  army  and  to  send  them  info  a  foreign  country.  (Applause.) 

Give  our  army  a  chance,  or  even  half  a  chance,  to  practice  in 
time  of  peace  the  performance  of  its  proper  function  in  time  of 
war,  and  I  can  guarantee  that  the  American  people  will  ever  in 
the  future  have  the  same  cause  that  they  have  had  in  the  past 
to  be  proud  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States. 
(Cheers  and  applause,  long  continued.) 


[..3] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS  AT 
RAYMOND,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  15,  1903 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  did  not  realize  that  I  was  to  meet  you  today,  still  less  to 
address  an  audience  such  as  this!  and  I  had  only  come  prepared 
to  go  into  the  Yosemite  with  John  Muir,  so  I  must  ask  you  to 
excuse  my  costume.  (Cries  of  "It  is  all  right!")  I  have  en- 
joyed so  much  seeing  Southern  California  and  San  Francisco 
that  I  felt  my  trip  would  be  incomplete  if  I  did  not  get  up  into 
your  beautiful  country  and  then  see  the  Yosemite.  Before  I 
came  on  this  trip  I  was  inclined  to  grumble  because  I  found 
we  were  giving  relatively  four  times  as  much  time  to  California 
as  to  any  other  State.  Now  I  feel  that  we  did  not  give  it  half 
enough.  It  ought  to  have  been  eight  times  instead  of  four 
times.  I  have  enjoyed  being  here.  I  have  never  been  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  before.  For  a  number  of  years  I  lived  in  the 
Rockies.  I  was  in  the  cow  business  in  those  days.  Great  though 
my  pleasure  has  been  in  seeing  your  wonderful  soil,  your  won- 
derful climate,  your  fruits  and  flowers,  your  extraordinary  and 
beautiful  natural  products,  yet  what  I  have  liked  most  has  been 
meeting  the  men  and  women,  and  finding  that  the  fundamental 
fact  throughout  this  country  is  that  wherever  you  go,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  a  good  American  is  a  good  American, 
and  nothing  else.  (Applause.)  Here,  as  everywhere  that  I 
have  been  in  California,  I  am  greeted  by  men  who  wear  the 
button  which  shows  that  in  the  times  that  tried  men's  souls 
they  proved  their  truth  by  their  endeavor.  As  they  then  be- 
longed to  different  regiments,  doubtless  raised  in  different  States, 
but  fought  for  one  flag  and  one  country,  so  now  wherever  we 
are  citizens,  in  the  East,  in  the  West,  or  here  beyond  the  West, 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


in  California,  wherever  we  are  citizens,  our  duties  are  the  same; 
our  duty  is  to  lead  our  lives  in  a  spirit  of  decency,  of  courage 
and  of  common  sense,  that  will  make  us  fit  to  be  citizens  of  this 
great  republic.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


REMARKS   AT 
BERENDA,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  18,  1903 

MY  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  am  glad  td  have  the  chance  of  saying  a  word  to  you  of  this 
wonderful  and  fertile  valley,  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  (cheers  and 
applause)  ;  and  even  glimpses  I  have  got  of  it  have  made  me 
appreciate  its  fertility.  I  am  glad  that  the  soil  and  the  climate 
here  are  such  as  to  give  us  that  indispensable  base  of  material 
prosperity,  the  foundation  upon  which  we  must  rest,  but,  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies,  the  thing  that  pleases  me  most,  even  more 
than  the  crops,  is  the  men  and  women  I  meet.  (Applause.)  I 
believe  in  your  future,  because  I  believe  in  you — not  only  in 
the  climate  and  the  soil.  You  can  take  the  best  climate  and  the 
best  soil  and  put  a  poor,  shiftless,  trifling  creature  on  the  soil 
and  you  do  not  get  any  results.  To  take  advantage  of  the 
greatest  opportunities  you  must  have  the  men.  I  fail  to  see 
how  any  public  man  cannot  believe  in  the  future  of  this  country 
after  he  has  gone,  as  I  have  gone,  from  one  side  of  the  continent 
to  the  other,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  has  met  audi- 
ences everywhere  to  whom  he  can  appeal  in  the  name  of  the 
fundamental  virtues  of  American  citizenship,  fundamental  virtues 
that  go  to  make  up  good  men  and  good  women  everywhere,  and 
have  gone  to  make  them  up  since  time  began.  I  believe  not  in 
brilliancy,  not  in  genius,  I  believe  in  the  ordinary,  humdrum, 
work-a-day  virtues  that  make  a  man  a  good  man  in  his  family, 
a  good  neighbor,  a  good  man  to  deal  with  in  business,  a  good 
man  to  deal  with  in  the  State,  and  when  you  have  got  a  man 
with  those  characteristics  in  him  you  have  a  man  who  if  the  need 
comes  will  rise  level  to  that  need.  There  are  any  number  of 
different  kinds  of  work  that  we  have  to  do,  all  of  which  have  to 

[ia6] 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


be  done.  There  is  the  work  of  the  farmer,  the  work  of  the 
business  man,  the  work  of  the  skilled  mechanic,  the  work  of  the 
men  to  whom  I  owe  my  safety  every  day  and  every  night — the 
work  of  the  railroad  men;  the  work  of  the  lawyer,  the  work 
of  the  sailor,  the  work  of  the  soldier,  the  work  in  ten  thousand 
ways ;  it  is  all  good  work ;  it  does  not  make  any  difference  what 
work  the  man  is  doing  if  he  does  it  well.  If  the  man  is  a  slack, 
shiftless  creature  I  wish  we  could  get  rid  of  him.  He  is  of  no 
use.  In  every  occupation  you  will  find  some  men  whom  you 
will  have  to  carry.  You  cannot  do  much  with  them.  Every 
one  of  us  will  stumble  at  times,  and  shame  to  the  man  who  does 
not  at  such  times  stretch  out  a  helping  hand,  but  if  the  man 
lies  down  you  cannot  carry  him  to  any  permanent  use.  What 
I  would  plead  for  is  that  we  recognize  that  fact,  that  we  bring 
up  our  children  to  work,  so  that  each  respects  the  other.  I  do 
not  care  whether  a  man  is  a  banker  or  a  bricklayer;  if  he  is 
a  good  banker  or  a  good  bricklayer  he  is  a  good  citizen;  if  he 
is  dishonest,  if  he  is  tricky,  if  he  shirks  his  job  or  tries  to  cheat 
his  neighbor,  be  he  great  or  small,  be  he  the  poor  man  cheating 
the  rich  man,  or  the  rich  man  oppressing  the  poor  man,  in  either 
case  he  is  a  bad  citizen.  I  thank  you  and  want  to  say  what  a 
pleasure  it  has  been  to  see  you  here  this  evening.  (Cheers  and 
applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS   AT 
MERCED,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  18,  1903 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  am  glad,  to  have  the  chance  of  stopping  here  to  greet  you, 
and  to  say  how  much  I  have  enjoyed  my  trip  up  in  your  moun- 
tains and  my  whole  trip  through  California.  It  has  been  the 
greatest  possible  pleasure  to  get  out  here.  I  have  enjoyed  seeing 
the  mountains;  I  have  enjoyed  seeing  your  scenery;  I  have  en- 
joyed witnessing  the  wonderful  products  of  your  climate  and 
soil;  but  what  I  have  enjoyed  most  has  been  the  chance  to  see 
the  men  and  women  of  California.  (Cheers.) 


o 
2 

CO 

a 
53 

o 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS   AT 
MODESTO,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  18,  1903 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  am  very  glad  to  catch  this  glimpse  of  you.  I  have  passed 
four  delightful  days  in  your  mountains  up  there  in  the  Yo- 
semite  and  I  cannot  say  how  much  I  have  enjoyed  them,  but 
I  have  enjoyed  even  more  my  entire  trip  through  California 
and  the  courtesy  and  hospitality  with  which  I  have  been  received. 
It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  come  from  the  East  to 
the  West,  then  west  of  the  West  to  California,  and  to  see  your 
wonderful  State.  And  while  I  have  enjoyed  it  all,  enjoyed  see- 
ing  the  soil  and  the  climate,  enjoyed  witnessing  the  abounding 
prosperity  that  you  have  succeeded  in  making,  the  thing  that 
I  have  enjoyed  most  has  been  seeing  the  men  and  women,  the 
citizens  of  California,  for  that  is  what  counts  most  in  the  long 
run.  The  soil  and  the  climate  will  not  count  for  anything  if  the 
people  have  not  got  it  in  them  to  take  advantage  of  the  soil  and 
climate.  I  think  I  came  to  California  a  middling  good  American 
and  I  will  go  away  a  better  American.  It  has  been  the  greatest 
pleasure  to  see  you  all.  (Applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


ADDRESS  AT 
TRUCKEE,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  19,  190} 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  want  to  thank  you  for  coming  out  to  greet  me.  Most  of  all, 
I  wish  to  thank  the  men  of  the  Grand  Army  who  are  present. 
It  has  tren  a  peculiarly  pleasant  thing  wherever  I  have  been  in 
California  to  be  greeted  by  some  of  those  men  to  whose  actions 
we  owe  it  that  there  is  now  a  common  country  of  ours  or  a 
President  over  it.  (Applause.)  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that 
we  should  profit  by  the  lessons  that  they  taught,  not  merely  in 
war,  but  in  peace.  In  speaking  to  you  here  in  this  great  and 
wonderful  State  of  California,  with  its  marvelously  diversified 
industries,  with  its  irrigated  agriculture  in  the  south,  with  its 
agriculture  carried  on  in  ordinary  fashion  in  the  north,  its  pas- 
turage, its  mines,  its  commerce,  its  manufactures,  its  wonderful 
railroad  development,  I  speak  to  a  community  which  has  risen 
and  gone  forward  because  of  the  type  of  character,  the  type  of 
manhood  and  womanhood  among  its  sons  and  daughters. 

The  lesson  to  be  learned  from  the  men  of  the  Civil  War  is 
the  lesson  of  resolute  endeavor  for  a  worthy  cause.  I  would 
not  preach  to  any  man  the  life  of  ease,  the  life  of  safety  only. 
Instead  of  the  life  of  ease  I  preach  to  all  worthy  to  be  called 
men,  the  life  of  work,  the  life  of  endeavor,  and  instead  of  the 
life  of  safety  I  preach  the  doctrine  that  teaches  us  now  as  it 
taught  the  men  of  the  Civil  War,  that  there  are  times  when 
safety  is  the  last  thing  to  be  considered.  (Applause.)  Here  in 
America,  throughout  our  country,  what  we  need  are  the  virtues 
of  the  pioneers,  and  among  the  pioneers  I  put  high  the  pioneers 
of  the  churches  who  went  hand  in  hand  to  do  the  work  of  the 
Lord  with  their  fellow-men.  You  need  various  qualities  to 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


make  a  State  great,  a  nation  great,  just  as  you  needed  those  qual- 
ities to  make  an  army  great.  No  one  of  them  will  suffice.  In  the 
first  place,  you  must  have  the  base  of  morality,  of  decency,  love 
of  country,  love  of  friends,  the  quality  that  makes  a  man  a  good 
father,  a  good  neighbor,  a  decent  citizen.  You  need  that  first,  just 
as  in  the  Civil  War  you  needed  to  have  patriotism  first,  love 
of  country,  the  spirit  that  drove  you  to  think  nothing  of  ease, 
nothing  of  comfort,  but  to  go  out  to  do  the  work  of  the  nation 
when  that  nation  called,  when  Abraham  Lincoln  summoned  you 
to  battle;  but  that  was  not  enough.  I  do  not  care  how  patriotic 
a  man  was,  if  he  ran  away  you  could  do  nothing  with  him.  It  is 
the  same  way  here  in  civil  life.  I  wish  a  man  to  be  decent,  a 
square  man,  a  fair  dealing  man,  but  he  has  got  to  be  a  man  also 
or  you  cannot  do  much  with  him.  He  has  got  to  have  courage, 
hardihood,  power  to  work,  power  to  hold  his  own,  to  do  what- 
ever his  hands  find  to  do,  he  has  got  to  have  that  or  he  will 
not  amount  to  much.  He  has  got  to  have  it  in  him  to  make  his 
own  way  or  he  is  a  weakling  and  will  fall  by  the  wayside.  In 
addition  to  the  qualities  of  decency,  of  honesty,  there  must  be 
the  qualities  of  manliness,  of  hardihood,  the  qualities  that  sent 
the  pioneers  across  the  trackless  wastes,  the  quality  that  sends 
the  soldier  to  battle,  the  quality  that  makes  a  man  discontented 
and  ill  at  ease  if  he  cannot  do  his  work  well  on  the  farm,  in  the 
shops,  wherever  his  work  is.  You  need  those  and  you  need  some- 
thing in  addition,  for  I  do  not  care  how  brave  a  man  is,  how 
honest  he  is,  if  he  is  a  fool  you  can  do  nothing  with  him.  He 
needs  the  saving  grace  of  common  sense  to  help  him  out,  to 
make  his  work  count. 

There  is  another  lesson  taught  by  the  men  who  wore  the 
blue — the  lesson  of  brotherhood;  brotherhood  in  its  broadest 
sense;  brotherhood  that  does  not  recognize  the  difference  of 
sections  and  that  recognizes  just  as  little  the  difference  of  class, 
that  treats  a  man  on  his  worth  as  a  man,  and  if  he  is  square 
stands  by  him ;  if  he  is  not  square  is  against  him,  and  recognizes 
other  distinctions  as  accidental,  not  fundamental.  One  lesson  of 

['3'] 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


that  brotherhood  is  the  self-respect  that  respects  others.  In  the 
army,  from  the  lieutenant-general  down  to  the  last  newly  en- 
listed recruit,  the  thing  that  concerned  you  was  how  the  man 
did  his  duty  in  his  place,  and  not  what  that  place  was.  There 
are  in  this  country  a  thousand  different  shapes  of  work.  We 
have  got  to  do  them  all,  and  we  can  do  them  well  only  if  we 
recognize  the  need  that  each  work  should  be  well  done;  whether 
the  man  is  a  business  man,  a  lawyer,  a  farmer,  a  railroad  man, 
a  mechanic,  matters  nothing.  What  matters  is,  does  he  do  his 
work  and  his  duty  well?  Is  he  a  square  man  and  a  brave  man, 
a  good  citizen,  a  good  neighbor,  a  man  whom  you  are  glad  to 
have  associate  with  you  as  an  American?  If  he  is,  he  is  a  good 
citizen  and  entitled  to  honor;  if  he  is  not,  I  care  not  whether 
he  be  high  or  low  in  social  standing  or  in  wealth,  he  is  a  bad 
citizen  and  a  curse  to  the  State.  All  kinds  of  honorable  work 
entitle  those  following  them  to  honor.  For  the  last  few  weeks 
and  for  the  next  few,  every  minute  and  every  hour  my  safety 
depends  upon  how  the  railroad  men  do  their  work.  Naturally, 
I  take  a  peculiar  interest  in  them.  But  we  must  take  the  same 
interest  in  all  men  who  do  their  work  well.  If  a  man  does  his 
duty  he  is  a  good  citizen  and  we  should  be  proud  of  him. 

Just  let  me  ask  you  one  word  especially  to  the  railroad  men. 
I  recollect  the  last  time  I  ever  met  General  Sherman  he  told  me 
that  if  he  had  to  raise  an  army  composed  purely  of  one  class 
he  would  take  railroad  men  because  they  developed  four  or  five 
qualities  that  counted  more  than  anything  else,  qualities  of 
taking  risks,  of  irregular  hours  (so  that  to  be  up  at  night  does 
not  strike  them  with  horror),  of  accepting  responsibility,  and 
yet  of  obeying  orders,  and  obeying  them  at  once,  not  wondering 
whether  to  turn  the  switch  then  or  later,  but  turning  it  then, 
and  in  consequence  the  men  who  have  had  that  training  will 
make  good  soldiers,  and  when  you  make  a  really  good  soldier 
you  will  make  a  good  citizen.  We  cannot  all  be  railroad  men, 
but  we  can  all  be  good  citizens  and  show  the  same  type  of 
quality. 


r 


0 

o 


p 
o 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


I  am  glad  to  see  all  of  you,  but  perhaps  I  am  most  glad  to 
see  the  children.     (Cheers  and  applause.) 


['33] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS     AT 
COL  FAX,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  19,  190? 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS,  MY  FELLOW-AMERICANS  (applause),  MEN 
AND  WOMEN  OF  PLACER  COUNTY  : 

It  is  the  greatest  pleasure  to  have  caught  even  a  glimpse  of  the 
miners  here.  I  do  not  have  to  preach  to  you.  You  practice 
what  I  preach,  and  I  hope  I  do  myself,  too.  (Laughter.)  You 
in  your  lives  here  have  done  the  things  which  it  makes  all  of 
us  proud  as  Americans  to  have  done.  We  do  not  believe  here 
in  this  republic  in  the  men  who  seek  only  the  life  of  ease,  the 
life  of  absence  of  effort.  We  believe  in  the  men  who  face  toil, 
who  face  risk,  who  dare,  who  do  and  who  triumph  because  they 
have  done  it.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


['34] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
AUBURN,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  19,  1903 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your  kindness  in  coming  to  greet 
me,  and  I  am  so  pleased  to  see  you,  men  and  women  of  Placer 
County.  I  have  enjoyed  to  the  full  my  visit  to  California.  I 
have  been  astonished  and  delighted  with  your  extraordinary  suc- 
cess in  so  many  different  types  of  industries — mining,  agriculture 
of  so  many  kinds,  manufacturing,  your  wonderful  commerce.  It 
is  particularly  a  pleasure  to  be  in  a  State  already  great,  and  yet 
with  an  infinitely  greater  future  before  it.  But  pleased  though 
I  am  to  see  your  abounding  material  prosperity,  the  products 
of  your  soil,  the  thing  I  am  most  pleased  with  is  you  yourselves, 
the  men  and  women.  It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  have  caught 
this  glimpse  of  you.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS     AT    THE     PARK, 
SACRAMENTO,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  19,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  ,AND  You,  MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  SACRAMENTO,  AND 
TO  You,  THE  CHILDREN  : 

I  am  particularly  glad  to  see  the  children  this  afternoon.  I 
want  to  say  a  word  to  the  teachers.  There  is  no  body  of  men  and 
women  in  all  our  country  to  whom  so  much  is  owing  as  to  those 
who  are  training  the  next  generation,  because  it  is  the  merest 
truism  to  say  that  the  next  generation  determines  the  fate  of 
this  country.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  such  commerce,  such 
industry,  such  manufactures,  such  agriculture,  as  I  have  seen 
evidences  of  here  in  California;  but  the  important  thing,  after 
all,  is  the  quality  of  the  citizenship.  (Applause.)  Therefore, 
the  future  of  the  State  depends  not  upon  what  is  material,  for 
that  you  can  produce  if  you  have  the  heart,  the  hand,  and  the 
head  to  do  it;  it  depends  upon  the  quality  of  heart,  hand  and 
head  in  the  average  American.  That  is  what  counts.  Therefore 
a  peculiar  debt  is  owing  to  those  who  are  educating  the  boys 
and  girls  of  today,  who  will  be  the  men  and  women  of  tomorrow, 
and  upon  whom  we  must  depend  to  keep  alive  the  traditions  of 
our  citizenship. 

I  greet  with  pleasure  you  boys  and  girls,  and  you  of  the  high 
school,  you  who  in  not  many  years  will  have  to  take  upon  your- 
selves the  duties  that  come  with  full  growth  of  body  and  mind. 
I  am  going  to  repeat  to  you  one  bit  of  advice  which  I  have 
already  given,  advice  to  the  young,  which  applies  also  to  the 
old.  I  believe  in  play  and  I  believe  in  work.  I  believe  in  hav- 
ing a  good  time,  provided  it  does  not  interfere  with  your  doing 
the  work  there  is  to  do.  Play  hard  while  you  play,  and  when 
you  work  do  not  play  at  all. 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


It  has  given  me  the  keenest  pleasure  to  witness  tonight  this 
wonderful  gathering  in  this  beautiful  place.  I  have  come  from 
the  Atlantic  across  this  continent  to  the  Pacific,  and  in  meeting 
the  different  bodies  of  my  fellow-citizens  one  thing  has  struck 
me  particularly,  and  that  is  the  essential  unity  of  our  people. 
East  or  West,  North  or  South,  by  the  Atlantic,  in  the  great  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi,  among  the  Rockies,  and  here  beside  the 
greatest  of  all  the  oceans,  wherever  I  meet  a  body  of  our  people 
I  meet  men  and  women  to  whom  I  can  appeal  as  Americans,  and 
nothing  else.  I  greet  you.  I  thank  you  for  coming.  I  am  proud 
of  you,  proud  to  be  your  fellow-citizen.  I  believe  in  you  with  all 
my  heart  and  I  believe  that  the  century  that  is  opening  contains 
the  promise  of  the  greatest  achievement  for  this  nation  that  any 
nation  has  ever  enjoyed  since  the  dim  days  when  history  dawned. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 


[•37] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS  TO  THE  SACRAMENTO  SO- 
CIETY OF  CALIFORNIA  PIONEERS, 
SACRAMENTO,  CALIFORNIA 

MAY  19,  1903 

I  wish  to  thank  you  and  the  members  of  the  Sacramento  So- 
ciety of  California  Pioneers.  Of  course,  the  members  of  your 
society  must  ever  feel  not  merely  a  particular  interest  in,  but 
a  part  in  the  development  of  this  State  such  as  no  other  can 
have.  To  you  it  was  given  in  the  heroic  days  to  do  the  great 
deeds  by  which  this  republic  was  made  in  very  truth  the  mistress 
of  the  two  great  oceans,  for  such  she  shall  be  in  the  years  to 
come.  It  was  following  your  guidance  that  our  people  con- 
quered this  continent  and  made  it  the  base  for  this  mighty  and 
wonderful  nation,  a  nation  mighty  in  its  past,  mightier  yet  in 
the  possibility  that  the  looming  future  holds  for  it.  I  thank 
you  most  heartily  and  appreciate  particularly  the  courtesy  of 
you  and  your  fellow-members.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


ADDRESS    AT    THE    CAPITOL    BUILDING, 
SACRAMENTO,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  19,  1903 

MR.  MAYOR,  AND  You,  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  have  the  chance  of  meeting  you  here 
in  the  capital  city  of  your  wonderful  State.  (Applause.)  In 
greeting  all  of  you  I  know  that  the  others  will  not  grudge  my 
saying  a  special  word  of  acknowledgment  to  those  whose  mettle 
rang  true  on  war's  red  touchstone,  to  the  men  to  whom  we  owe 
it  that  we  have  tonight  one  country  or  that  there  is  a  President 
to  speak  to  you — (applause) — the  men  of  the  Grand  Army,  the 
veterans  of  the  great  war.  I  wish  also  to  express  at  this  time 
my  acknowledgments  to  my  escort,  the  National  Guard,  many 
of  them  my  comrades  in  the  lesser  war  of  '98.  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  You  see,  in  '98  we  had  a  difficulty  from  which  you 
were  wholly  free  in  '61,  because  with  us  there  was  not  enough 
war  to  go  around.  (Applause.) 

I  have  enjoyed  to  the  full  my  visit  to  California.  I  have  come 
across  the  continent  from  the  East  to  the  West,  and  now  beyond 
the  West  to  California,  for  California  stands  by  itself.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  have  enjoyed  every  hour  of  my  stay  here.  I  have 
just  come  from  a  four  days'  rest  in  the  Yosemite,  and  I  wish 
to  say  one  word  to  you  here  in  the  capital  city  of  California  about 
certain  of  your  great  natural  resources,  your  forests  and  the 
water  supply  coming  from  the  streams  that  find  their  sources 
among  the  forests  of  the  mountains. 

California  possesses  a  wonderful  climate,  a  wonderful  soil, 
and  throughout  the  portions  that  I  have  visited  it  is  literally 
astounding  to  see  how  the  land  yields  a  hundred  and  a  thousand 
fold  when  water  is  put  upon  it.  And  where  it  is  possible  to  irri- 
gate the  land  the  result  is,  of  course,  far  better  than  having  to 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


depend  upon  rainfall  anywhere,  but  no  small  part  of  the  pros- 
perity of  California  in  the  hotter  and  drier  agricultural  regions 
depends  upon  the  preservation  of  her  water  supply;  and  the 
water  supply  cannot  be  preserved  unless  the  forests  are  pre- 
served. (Applause.)  As  regards  some  of  the  trees,  I  want 
them  preserved  because  they  are  the  only  things  of  their  kind 
in  the  world.  Lying  out  at  night  under  those  giant  Sequoias 
was  lying  in  a  temple  built  by  no  hand  of  man,  a  temple  grander 
than  any  human  architect  could  by  any  possibility  build,  and  I 
hope  for  the  preservation  of  the  groves  of  giant  trees  simply 
because  it  would  be  »  shame  to  our  civilization  to  let  them  dis- 
appear. They  are  monuments  in  themselves.  I  ask  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  other  forests  on  grounds  of  wise  and  far-sighted 
economic  policy.  I  do  not  ask  that  lumbering  be  stopped  at  all. 
On  the  contrary,  I  ask  that  the  forests  be  kept  for  use  in  lum- 
bering, only  that  they  be  so  used  that  not  only  shall  we  here, 
this  generation,  get  the  benefit  for  the  next  few  years,  but  that 
our  children  and  our  children's  children  shall  get  the  benefit. 
In  California  I  am  impressed  by  how  great  the  State  is,  but  I 
am  even  more  impressed  by  the  immensely  greater  greatness  that 
lies  in  the  future,  and  I  ask  that  your  marvelous  natural  resources 
be  handed  on  unimpaired  to  your  posterity.  (Applause.)  We 
are  not  building  this  country  of  ours  for  a  day.  It  is  to  last 
through  the  ages.  We  stand  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  century. 
We  look  into  the  dim  years  that  rise  before  us,  knowing  that 
if  we  are  true  that  the  generations  that  succeed  us  here  shall 
fall  heir  to  a  heritage  such  as  has  never  been  known  before.  I 
ask  that  we  keep  in  mind  not  only  our  own  interests,  but  the 
interests  of  our  children.  Any  generation  fit  to  do  its  work  must 
work  for  the  future,  for  the  people  of  the  future,  as  well  as  for 
itself.  You,  men  of  the  Civil  War,  fought  from  *6i  to  '65  for  the 
Union  of  that  day ;  yes,  and  for  the  Union  that  was  to  stand  while 
nations  stand  in  the  hereafter.  (Applause.)  You  fought  to  make 
the  flag  that  had  been  rent  asunder  once  more  whole  and  without 
a  seam  and  to  float  over  you  and  to  float  over  all  who  come 

[Ho] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


after  you  likewise.  You  fought  for  the  future;  you  fought  for 
the  looming  greatness  of  the  republic  in  the  centuries  that  were 
to  come,  and  now  I  ask  that  we,  in  fulfilling  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship, keep  our  gaze  fixed  likewise  on  the  days  that  are  to 
come  after  us.  You  are  building  here  this  great  State  within 
whose  bounds  lies  an  area  as  great  as  an  Old  World  empire,  a 
State  with  a  commerce  already  vast,  but  with  a  commerce  which 
within  the  century  that  has  now  opened  shall  cover  and  dominate 
the  entire  Pacific  Ocean.  (Applause.)  You  are  building  your 
factories,  you  are  tilling  the  fields;  business  man,  professional 
man,  farmer,  wage-worker,  all  here  in  this  State  see  a  future  of 
unknown  possibilities  opening  before  them. 

I  earnestly  ask  that  you  see  to  it  that  your  resources,  by  use, 
are  perpetuated  for  the  use  of.  the  peoples  yet  unborn.  Use  them, 
but  in  using,  keep  and  preserve  them.  Keep  the  waters;  keep 
the  forests;  use  your  lands  as  you  use  your  bays,  your  harbors, 
as  you  use  the  cities  here,  so  that  by  the  very  fact  of  the  use 
they  will  become  more  valuable  as  possessions. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  material  things,  of  the  things  which  are 
indispensable  as  the  foundation,  the  base  of  national  greatness. 
We  must  care  for  the  body  first.  We  must  see  to  it  that  our 
tremendous  industrial  development  goes  on,  that  the  well-being 
continues ;  that  the  soil  yields  its  wealth  in  the  future  as  it  has 
in  the  past,  aye,  and  tenfold  more.  We  cannot  for  one  moment 
afford  to  underestimate  the  vital  importance  of  that  material 
well-being,  of  the  prosperity  which  we  so  abundantly  enjoy,  but 
I  ask  also  that  you  remember  the  things  of  the  mind  and  the 
soul  as  well  as  the  body.  Nothing  has  struck  me  more  in  going 
through  California  than  the  interest  you  are  paying  to  the  cause 
of  education,  than  the  way  in  which  your  citizens  evidently 
realize  that  upon  the  proper  training  of  the  children,  of  those  who 
are  to  be  the  men  and  women  of  a  score  of  years  hence,  depends 
the  ultimate  welfare  of  the  republic.  Let  me  draw  a  lesson  from 
you,  the  men  of  the  Civil  War.  You  needed  strong  bodies,  you 
needed  the  supplies,  the  arms,  but  more  than  all,  you  needed 

[*•»! 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


the  hearts  that  drove  the  bodies  into  battle.  What  distinguished 
our  men  was  the  spirit  that  drove  them  onward  to  effort  and  to 
strife,  onward  into  action,  onward  through  the  march,  through 
the  long  months  of  waiting  in  camp,  onward  through  the  fiery 
ordeal  of  battle,  when  men's  souls  were  winnowed  out  as  before 
the  judgment  seat.  You  then  rose  level  to  the  duty  that  was 
before  you  because  of  the  spirit  that  burned  within  your  breasts, 
because  you  had  in  you  the  capacity  of  generous  enthusiasm  for 
the  lofty  ideal,  because  you  realized  that  there  was  something 
above  the  body  and  greater  than  the  body.  And  now,  my  fel- 
lows, men  and  women  of  California,  men  and  women  of  the 
American  Union,  I  ask  throughout  this  country  that  our  people 
keep  in  their  hearts  the  capacity  of  devotion  to  what  stands 
above  mere  bodily  welfare,  to  the  welfare  of  the  spirit,  of  the 
mind,  of  the  soul.  I  ask  that  we  have  strong  bodies,  well  cared 
for,  well  clothed,  well  housed.  I  ask  for  what  is  better  than  a 
strong  body,  a  sane  mind.  And  I  ask  finally  for  what  counts 
for  more  than  body,  for  more  than  mind,  for  character ;  character 
which  in  the  last  analysis  tells  most  in  settling  the  .welfare  of 
either  a  nation  or  an  individual;  character  into  which  many  ele- 
ments enter,  but  three,  above  all;  in  the  first  place,  as  a  founda- 
tion, decency,  honesty,  morality,  the  quality  that  makes  a  man  a 
good  husband,  a  good  neighbor,  a  man  who  deals  fairly  and 
squarely  with  those  about  him,  who  does  his  duty  to  those 
around  him  and  to  the  State;  and  that  is  not  enough.  Decency 
and  honesty  are  not  enough.  Just  as  in  the  Civil  War  you 
needed  patriotism  first,  but  it  made  no  matter  how  patriotic  a 
man  was,  if  he  ran  away  you  could  do  nothing  with  him.  (Ap- 
plause.) So  in  civic  life  you  must  have  decency  and  honesty, 
for  without  them  ability  makes  a  man  only  the  more  dangerous 
to  his  fellows,  the  greater  force  for  evil.  Just  again  as  in  the 
Civil  War,  if  the  man  did  not  have  in  him  the  capacity  of  loyalty 
to  his  fellows,  loyalty  to  his  regiment,  loyalty  to  the  flag,  if 
he  did  not  have  in  him  that  capacity,  the  abler  he  was  the  worse 
he  was  to  have  in  the  army.  So  it  is  now  in  civil  life;  the  abler 

['4*1 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

a  man  is,  if  he  has  not  the  root  of  righteousness  in  him  the 
more  dangerous  a  foe  to  decent  government  he  is,  and  we  shall 
never  rise  level  to  the  needs  of  our  nation  until  we  make  it 
understood  that  the  scoundrel  who  succeeds  is  to  be  hunted  down 
by  public  opinion,  by  the  condemnation  and  scorn  of  his  fellows, 
exactly  as  we  hunt  down  the  weaker  scoundrel  who  fails.  (Ap- 
plause.) But  that  is  not  enough.  Decency  and  honesty  are  a 
basis,  but  that  is  all.  I  do  not  care  how  moral  a  man  is,  if  his 
morality  is  only  good  while  he  sits  at  home  in  his  own  parlor, 
you  can  do  nothing  with  him.  Scant  is  the  use  we  have  for  the 
timid  good.  In  the  war  you  needed  patriotism,  and  then  you 
needed  the  fighting  edge.  You  had  to  have  that.  So  in  civil 
life  we  need  the  spirit  of  decency,  of  honesty,  and  then,  in  addi- 
tion, the  quality  of  courage,  of  hardihood,  of  manliness,  that 
makes  a  man  fit  to  go  out  into  the  hurly-burly  and  do  a  man's 
work  in  the  world.  That  must  come,  too ;  and  that  is  not  enough. 
I  do  not  care  how  moral  a  man  is  and  how  brave  he  is,  if  he  is 
a  natural  born  fool  you  can  do  nothing  with  him.  I  ask,  then, 
for  decency  as  the  foundation,  for  courage  and  manliness  thereon, 
and  finally,  in  addition  to  both,  I  ask  for  common  sense  as  the 
moderator  and  guide  of  both.  (Applause.) 

My  fellow-countrymen,  I  believe  in  you;  I  believe  in  your 
future;  I  believe  in  the  future  of  the  American  republic,  because 
I  believe  that  the  average  American  citizen  has  in  him  just  those 
qualities — the  quality  of  honesty,  the  quality  of  courage,  and  the 
quality  of  common  sense.  While  we  keep  in  the  community 
the  power  of  adherence  to  a  lofty  ideal  and  at  the  same  time  the 
power  to  attempt  its  realization  by  practical  methods,  we  can 
he  sure  that  our  progress  in  the  future  will  be  even  more  rapid 
than  our  progress  has  been  in  the  past,  and  that  in  the  century 
now  opening,  in  the  centuries  that  succeed  it,  this  country,  already 
the  greatest  republic  upon  which  the  sun  has  ever  shone,  will' 
attain  a  position  of  prominence  in  the  world's  history  that  will 
dwarf  into  insignificance  all  that  has  ever  been  done  before. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA       ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
REDDING,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  20,  1903 

MY  FRIENDS  A'ND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  see  you  to-day.  This  is  to  be  my  last 
day  in  California,  and  I  leave  the  State  with  the  liveliest  appre- 
ciation of  the  courtesy  with  which  I  have  been  received,  and 
with  memories  which  I  shall  ever  keep  of  the  pleasant  days  I 
have  had  within  your  borders.  I  have  seen  pretty  much  all  the 
State  from  the  ocean  up  to  the  Sierras  and  into  them;  I  have 
come  from  the  south  and  am  leaving  at  the  northern  end;  and 
I  am  impressed,  as  every  man  must  be,  with  what  our  nation  is 
to  have  within  its  borders  a  State  such  as  this,  a  State  in  re- 
sources and  size  the  equal  to  many  an  Old  World  empire.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  have  enjoyed  everything,  seeing  your  farms,  your 
ranches,  your  cities,  noting  the  diversification  of  your  industries, 
seeing  the  products  of  the  ranch,  of  the  irrigated  agriculture,  of 
the  mine,  of  the  forest,  realizing  as  a  man  must,  who  sees  San 
Francisco  and  that  wonderful  harbor  that  here  is  one  of  the  cities 
which  must  in  time  now  near  do  its  full  share  in  dominating 
the  commerce  of  the  world.  (Applause.)  I  have  enjoyed  all  of 
these  sights;  but  most  of  all  I  have  enjoyed  seeing  you,  the  men 
and  women  of  California.  (Applause.)  That  is  what  counts 
ultimately  in  any  nation.  We  need  of  course  the  physical  advan- 
tages, but  they  are  useless  if  we  have  not  got  the  men  to  take 
advantage  of  them.  Constitution,  laws, — they  are  good  things, 
indispensable  things,  to  have  right,  but  you  must  have  the  men 
behind  them  or  they  will  amount  to  but  little.  There  are  other 
nations  with  the  same  type  of  constitution,  the  same  theoretical 
form  of  government  as  ours,  and  yet  those  other  nations  have 
failed  where  we  have  succeeded  because  the  type  of  citizenship 

[•44] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


was  different.  So  here,  the  climate  and  soil  would  amount  to 
nothing,  if  you  did  not  have  men  and  women  of  the  right  type 
to  take  advantage  of  them. 

You  here  in  California,  who  succeeded  the  pioneers,  you  have 
won  your  place  by  showing  the  qualities  which  we  like  to  think 
of  as  typical  of  American  citizens.  If  we  of  this  great  Republic 
are  to  continue  in  the  future  to  rise  level  to  our  opportunities  as 
our  forefathers  rose  in  the  past,  we  must  so  rise  by  showing  the 
traits  which  they  showed.  There  is  no  patent  recipe  for  making 
a  good  citizen  any  more  than  there  is  any  patent  recipe  for  mak- 
ing a  successful  man.  Success  will  come  in  the  long  run  to  the 
man  or  the  nation  possessing  the  attributes  that  have  conquered 
success  from  the  days  when  we  first  have  written  records  of  the 
nations  of  mankind.  If  our  -people  have  courage,  perseverance, 
self-restraint,  self-mastery,  will  power  and  common  sense — you 
need  that  always — we  will  win  out.  I  said  common  sense ;  I  think 
that  there  is  only  one  quality  worse  than  hardness  of  heart  and 
that  is  softness  of  head.  I  want  to  see  the  average  American 
citizen  be  in  the  future  as  he  has  been  in  the  past,  a  decent  man, 
doing  no  wrong,  and  on  the  other  hand  able  to  hold  his  own  also ; 
and  just  as  I  want  to  see  with  the  average  citizen,  I  want  to  see 
with  the  nation.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


['45] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
DUNSMUIR,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  ao,  1903 

MY  FRIENDS:^ 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  greet  you  today.  I  have  enjoyed  the 
last  two  hours  traveling  up  by  this  beautiful  river  and  getting 
my  first  glimpses  of  Shasta.  It  has  been  a  very  great  pleasure 
to  come  here  to  this  State  beside  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  see  your 
people.  I  think  I  can  say  that  I  came  to  California  a  pretty  good 
American,  and  I  go  away  a  better  one.  (Applause.)  Glad  though 
I  have  been  to  see  your  wonderful  products,  your  plains  and  your 
mountains,  your  rivers,  to  see  the  great  cities  springing  up,  most 
of  all  have  I  enjoyed  meeting  the  men  and  women  to  whom  we 
owe  what  has  been  done  with  mine  and  railroad  and  lumbering 
camp  and  irrigated  field,  with  the  ranch  and  the  counting-house, 
— the  men  and  women  who  have  made  California  what  she  is. 

Almost  everywhere  I  have  been  greeted  by  men  who  are  vet- 
erans of  the  Civil  War;  or  else  by  men  who  came  here  in  the  early 
pioneer  days;  and  where  that  has  not  been  the  case  I  have  met 
those  who  are  their  worthy  successors,  who  are  doing  now  the 
kind  of  work  that  is  worth  doing.  I  pity  no  man  because  he  has 
to  work.  If  he  is  worth  his  salt  he  will  work.  I  envy  the  man 
who  has  a  work  worth  doing  and  does  it  well;  and  surely  no 
men  alive  are  more  worthy  of  admiration  than  those  men  to 
whom  it  is  given  to  build  up  a  giant  commonwealth  like  this.  It 
is  the  fact  of  doing  the  work  well  that  counts,  not  the  kind  of 
work,  as  long  as  that  work  is  honorable. 

I  speak  to  citizens  of  a  community  which  has  reached  its  pres- 
ent pitch  of  prosperity  because  they  have  done  each  his  duty  as 
his  lines  were  laid.  To  the  true  American  nothing  can  be  more 
alien  than  the  spirit  either  of  envy  or  of  contempt  for  another 

['46] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 


who  is  leading  a  life  as  a  decent  citizen  should  lead  it.  In  this 
country  we  have  room  for  every  honest  man  who  spends  his  life 
in  honest  effort;  we  have  no  room  either  for  the  man  of  means 
who,  in  a  spirit  of  arrogant  baseness,  looks  down  upon  the  man 
less  well  off,  or  for  the  other  man  who  envies  his  neighbor  be- 
cause that  neighbor  happens  to  be  better  off.  Either  feeling  is  a 
base  feeling,  unworthy  of  a  self-respecting  man. 

I  used  the  word  envy,  myself,  just  now,  but  I  did  not  use  it 
in  a  bad  sense.  If  you  use  envy  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word 
its  existence  implies  a  feeling  of  inferiority  in  the  man  who  feels 
it,  a  feeling  that  a  self-respecting  man  will  be  ashamed  to  have. 
If  the  man  is  a  good  American  and  is  doing  his  work  squarely 
he  need  not  envy  anybody,  because  he  occupies  a  position  such 
as  no  one  else  in  any  other  country,  in  any  other  age  has  oc- 
cupied; and  because  we  hold  our  citizenship  so  high,  because  we 
feel  and  have  the  right  to  feel  satisfaction  with  what  our  people 
have  done,  we  should  also  feel  that  the  only  spirit  in  which  to 
regard  any  other  man  who  does  well,  is  a  spirit  of  kindly  regard 
and  good  will  if  he  acts  squarely;  if  he  does  not,  then  I  think 
but  ill  of  you  if  you  do  not  regard  him  as  a  man  to  feel  at  least 
the  public  scorn,  public  contempt.  It  is,  of  course,  a  perfectly 
trite  saying  that  in  no  country  is  it  so  necessary  to  have  decency, 
honesty,  self-restraint,  in  the  average  citizen  as  in  a  republic, 
in  a  democracy;  for  successful  self-government  is  founded  upon 
that  high  average  of  citizenship  among  our  people;  and  America 
has  gone  on  as  she  has  gone  because  we  have  had  that  high  aver- 
age of  citizenship.  Our  government  is  based  upon  the  rule  of  a 
self-respecting  majority.  Our  government  has  so  far  escaped  the 
twin  dangers  of  the  older  republics,  government  by  a  plutocracy 
or  government  by  a  mob,  either  of  them  absolutely  alien  to  Ameri- 
can ideals. 

It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  see  you.  I  haven't  any  special 
word  of  preaching  to  say,  because  after  all,  men  and  women  of 
California,  I  can  only  preach  what  in  substance  you  have  prac- 
ticed, what  our  people  have  practiced  in  the  making  and  carrying 

['47] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


on  of  this  government.  From  the  days  of  Washington  to  the 
days  of  Lincoln  we  went  onward  and  upward  because  the  aver- 
age American  was  of  the  stuff  that  made  the  nation  go  onward 
and  upward.  We  cannot  be  dragged  up,  we  have  got  to  push 
ourselves  up.  No  law  that  ever  was  devised  can  give  wisdom  to 
the  fool,  courage  to  the  coward,  strength  to  the  weakling.  We 
must  have  those  qualities  in  us,  for  if  they  are  not  in  us  they 
cannot  be  gotten  out  of  us.  Of  course  all  you  have  to  do  is  to 
compare  what  other  nations  have  done  with  governments  founded 
as  ours,  the  same  type  of  constitution,  the  same  type  of  law,  which 
nevertheless  have  failed,  have  produced  chaos  because  they  did 
not  have  the  right  type  of  citizen  back  of  the  law,  the  right  type 
of  citizen  to  work  out  the  destiny  of  the  Nation  under  and 
through  the  law.  Of  course  we  need  the  right  law ;  we  need  even 
more  the  honest  and  fearless  enforcement  of  the  law,  enforce- 
ment in  a  spirit  of  absolute  fair  play  to  all  men,  showing  favorit- 
ism to  none,  doing  justice  to  each.  We  need  such  laws,  such  ad- 
ministration of  the  laws,  but  most  of  all  we  need  to  keep  up  that 
for  the  lack  of  which  nothing  else  can  atone  in  any  people — the 
average  standard  of  citizenship — so  that  the  average  man  shall 
have  certain  fundamental  qualities  that  come  under  many  differ- 
ent heads,  but  under  three  especially.  In  the  first  place,  that  he 
shall  have  at  the  foundation  of  his  character  the  moral  forces, 
the  forces  that  make  a  man  a  good  husband,  a  good  father,  a 
good  neighbor,  a  man  who  deals  fairly  by  his  fellows,  whether  he 
works  with  them  on  the  railroad  or  in  the  shops  or  in  the  fac- 
tories, whether  he  deals  with  them  as  a  mechanic,  as  a  lawyer, 
as  a  doctor,  whether  he  grows  the  products  of  the  soil  as  an 
earth-tiller,  a  miner,  a  lumberman,  a  sailor,  whatever  he  is,  what- 
ever his  wealth,  if  he  acts  squarely  he  has  fulfilled  the  first  re- 
quisites of  citizenship.  We  cannot  afford  in  our  Republic  to  draw 
distinctions  between  our  citizens  save  on  that  line  of  conduct. 
There  are  good  rnen  and  bad  men  everywhere.  All  of  .you  know 
them  in  private  life;  all  of  you  have  met  them.  You  have  got 
to  have  decency  and  morality  in  the  first  place,  and,  of  course, 

[148] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

that  is  not  enough.  It  does  not  begin  to  be  enough.  No  matter 
how  decent  a  man  is,  if  he  is  afraid  he  is  no  good.  In  addition 
to  the  quality  of  self-mastery,  self-restraint,  decency,  you  have 
got  to  have  the  quality  of  hardihood,  courage,  manliness,  the 
quality  which,  if  the  people  who  founded  this  State  had  lacked, 
there  never  would  have  been  a  State  founded  here.  You  have 
got  to  have  the  men  who  can  hold  their  own  in  work,  and,  if  nec- 
essary, in  fighting.  You  have  got  to  have  those  qualities  in  ad- 
dition, and  you  have  got  to  have  others  still.  I  do  not  care  how 
brave  a  man  is  and  how  decent  he  is,  if  he  is  a  natural  born  fool 
you  can  do  very  little  with  him.  In  addition  to  decency,  in  addi- 
tion to  courage,  you  must  have  the  saving  grace  of  common 
sense ;  the  quality  that  enables  any  man  to  tell  what  he  can  do  for 
himself  and  what  he  can  do  for  his  neighbor,  for  the  nation. 
Sometimes  each  of  us  has  the  feeling  that  if  he  has  to  choose  be- 
tween the  fool  and  the  knave  he  will  take  the  knave,  because  he 
can  reform  him  perhaps,  and  he  cannot  reform  the  fool;  and 
even  hardness  of  heart  is  not  much  more  destructive  in  the  long 
run  than  softness  of  head. 

In  our  life  what  we  need  is  not  so  much  genius,  not  so  much 
brilliancy,  as  the  ordinary  commonplace  everyday  qualities  which 
a  snan  needs  in  private  life,  and  which  he  needs  just  as  much  in 
public  life. 

In  coming  across  the  continent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
the  thing  that  has  struck  me  most  is  that,  fundamentally,  wher- 
ever one  goes  in  this  broad  country,  a  good  American  is  a  good 
American.  (Applause.) 

I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  coming  here,  and  I  wish  you 
all  good  fortune  in  the  future  as  in  the  past.  (Cheers  and  ap- 
plause.) 


['49] 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
SISSON,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  ao,  1903 

MY  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

It  is  indeed  a  great  pleasure  to  have  had  the  chance  of  going 
through  your  wonderful  State;  now  I  have  come  to  the  people 
who  live  among  the  mountains  in  the  north;  I  come  among  the 
pine  forests,  and  in  sight  of  the  great  mountains.  I  hardly  think 
that  you  yourselves  can  realize  what  a  wonderful  State  it  is,  a 
State  as  large  and  as  diversified  as  many  an  Old  World  empire. 
It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  have  come  here  to  see  this  wonderful 
State  with  its  change  from  the  semi-tropic,  irrigated  plains  of  the 
south,  here  to  the  northern  mountains,  a  State  situated  between 
the  Sierras  and  the  Pacific;  and  especially  I  have  enjoyed  meet- 
ing the  people  who  have  made  the  State  what  it  is.  Wherever 
I  have  been  I  have  seen  in  the  audiences,  men  who  wear  the 
button  which  shows  that  they  fought  in  the  great  Civil  War; 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  qualities  which  made  those  men  vic- 
torious in  the  mortal  strife  of  the  Republic  are  akin  to  the  quali- 
ties which  made  our  people  able  to  conquer  plain  and  mountain, 
prairie  and  forest,  and  to  create  these  commonwealths  from  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  across  to  the  Pacific.  (Applause.) 

I  am  glad  to  meet  all  of  you.  I  congratulate  you  upon  all  the 
crops,  but  especially  upon  the  children.  I  spoke  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  great  Civil  War  just  now,  and  of  your  pioneer  people;  each 
was  required  to  show  the  characteristics  which  have  to  be  shown 
also  in  civil  life  if  this  Republic  is  to  be  made  all  that  it  should 
be  made.  In  '61,  when  you  and  those  like  you  went  to  battle,  the 
first  feeling  that  you  had  to  have  was  the  capacity  for  devotion 
to  a  lofty  ideal,  the  spirit  that  made  ease,  comfort,  safety,  as 
nothing  compared  with  the  desire  to  keep  the  flag  and  to  ring 

['So] 


BY        PRESIDENT        ROOSEVELT 

true  when  the  country  called.  In  addition  to  that  you  had  to  have 
courage,  hardihood,  resolution,  or  you  could  not  have  made  your 
aspirations  good.  It  is  just  so  in  civil  life,  and  the  man  has  to  be 
a  decent  man,  a  square  man,  a  man  who  acts  square  by  his 
neighbors,  fairly  by  the  State,  or  he  cannot  amount  to  anything; 
but  in  addition  to  the  qualities  of  decency  and  fair  dealing  he 
must  have  the  qualities  that  make  a  man  a  man,  or  he  cannot  do 
a  man's  work  in  the  world.  He  has  to  have  hardihood,  courage 
and  endurance.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


CALIFORNIA        ADDRESSES 


REMARKS    AT 
MONTAGUE,     CALIFORNIA 

MAY  20,  1903 

MY  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW- CITIZENS  : 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  meet  you  this  afternoon.  I  have  en- 
joyed to  the  full  my  trip  through  California.  I  have  come  from 
the  south  through  the  State  and  now  go  out  at  the  north.  When 
the  trip  was  made  up  I  asked  why  it  was  necessary  to  give  rela- 
tively four  times  as  much  time  to  California  as  to  any  other  State. 
1  understand  now.  (Applause.)  I  only  wish  it  had  been  possible 
to  make  it  eight  times  as  much  instead.  This  morning  I  have 
been  greatly  impressed  in  traveling  through  these  mountains  and 
meeting  the  men  who  have  done  so  much  in  lumbering,  as  I  have 
already  met  the  men  of  the  mines,  and  ranches,  of  the  commerce 
and  industries  of  the  great  cities.  This  State  is  in  boundaries 
and  resources  greater  than  many  an  Old  World  empire ;  and  think 
what  it  is  to  be  a  citizen  of  a  Union  in  which  a  commonwealth 
like  this  is  a  State.  I  have  come  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
from  the  East  through  the  West  to  beyond  the  west  to  California, 
for  that  stands  by  itself.  (Applause.)  The  thing  that  has  im- 
pressed me  more  than  anything  else  in  addressing  the  different 
audiences  is  that  a  good  American  is  a  good  American  in  what- 
ever part  of  this  country  he  lives.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


['5*1 


BY        PRESIDENT       ROOSEVELT 


REMARKS    AT 
HORNBROOK,    CALIFORNIA 

MAY  ao,  1903 

MY  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  have  just  said  good-bye  to  the  Governor  of  California,  and  I 
am  very,  very  sorry  to  part  with  him.  He  has  been  with  me 
throughout  my  trip  in  California,  and  I  have  gone  pretty  fairly 
over  the  State  with  him.  Today  I  have  been  traveling  through 
the  northern  part  of  California,  among  the  mountains  and  the 
forests,  and  it  has  given  me  an  ever  fresh  view  of  your  wonder- 
ful and  beautiful  State.  As  I  have  said  more  than  once  since  en- 
tering your  State,  I  knew  as  no  one  knows  by  reading  and  by  hear- 
ing people  talk  of  all  the  resources  that  it  had,  but  I  could  not  fully 
realize  them  until  I  had  seen  them.  Going  through  California, 
I  have  been  struck  with  the  prosperous  and  contented  look  of  its 
people,  and  of  course  you  are  contented;  I  should  be  ashamed  of 
you  if  you  were  not  (applause),  living  in  such  a  State  as  this. 
And  glad  though  I  have  been  to  see  your  soil  and  climate,  to  see 
your  products,  the  products  of  your  fields,  and  mines  and  woods, 
what  you  have  done  with  railroads,  with  transportation  companies 
on  the  water,  with  factories,  with  industries  of  every  kind,  what 
I  have  been  most  pleased  with  after  all  has  been  the  way  in  which 
you  are  training  the  citizenship  of  the  future,  the  attention  paid  to 
the  schools  of  every  grade  here  in  this  State;  and  above  all  with 
the  type  of  men  and  women  and  children  whom  it  has  been  my 
good  fortune  to  encounter.  The  essential  thing  in  any  State  is 
the  character  of  the  average  man  or  woman,  and  I  am  proud  to 
be  your  fellow-citizen,  and  to  have  men  the  type  of  people  I  have 
met  in  California.  (Cheers  and  applause.) 


['53] 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


25ANoV49AP 


NOV17 


1958  T 


LD  21-100w-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


TI»  *     •    f  r  >  t^\ 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


